Report of U.S. Special Commissioner James H. Blount to U.S.
Secretary of State Walter Q. Gresham Concerning the Hawaiian Kingdom
Investigation.

Honolulu, H. I., July 17, 1893.

Sir: On the 11th of March,
1893, I was appointed by the President of the United States as special
commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands. At the same time the following
instructions were given to me by you:

Department
of State, Washington, March 11, 1893.

Sir: The situation created in the Hawaiian Islands by the
recent deposition of Queen Liliuokalani and the erection of a Provisional
Government demands the fullest consideration of the President, and in
order to obtain trustworthy information on the subject, as well as for the
discharge of other duties herein specified, he has decided to dispatch you to
the Hawaiian Islands as his special commissioner, in which capacity you will
herewith receive a commission and also a letter whereby the President accredits
you to the president of the executive and advisory councils of the
Hawaiian Islands.

The
comprehensive, delicate, and confidential character of your mission can now
only be briefly outlined, the details of its execution being necessarily left,
in great measure, to your good judgment and wise discretion.

You will investigate and fully
report to the President all the facts you can learn respecting the condition of
affairs in the Hawaiian Islands, the causes of the revolution by which the
Queen’s Government was overthrown, the sentiment of the people towards
existing authority, and, in general, all that can fully enlighten the President
touching the subjects of your mission.

To enable you to fulfill this charge, your
authority in all matters touching the relations of this Government to the
existing or other government of the islands, and the protection of our citizens
therein, is paramount, and in you alone, acting in cooperation with the
commander of the naval forces, is vested full discretion and power to determine
when such forces should be landed or withdrawn.

You are, however, authorized to avail
yourself of such aid and information as you may desire from the present
minister of the United States at Honolulu, Mr. John L. Stevens, who will
continue until further notice to perform the usual functions attaching to his
office not inconsistent with the powers entrusted to you. An instruction
will be sent to Mr. Stevens directing him to facilitate your presentation to
the head of the Government upon your arrival, and to render you all needed
assistance.

The withdrawal from the Senate of the
recently signed treaty of annexation for reexamination by the President leaves
its subject-matter in abeyance, and you are not charged with any duty in
respect thereto. It may be well, however, for you to dispel any possible
misapprehension which its withdrawal may have excited touching the entire
friendliness of the President and the Government of the United States towards
the people of the Hawaiian Islands, or the earnest solicitude here felt for
their welfare, tranquility, and progress.

Historical precedents, and the general
course of the United States, authorize the employment of its armed force in
foreign territory for the security of the lives and property of American
citizens and for the repression of lawless and tumultuous acts threatening them;
and the powers conferred to that end upon the representatives of the United
Staten are both necessary and proper, subject always to the exercise of a sound
discretion in their application.

In the judgment of the President, your
authority as well as that of the commander of the naval forces in Hawaiian
waters should be and is limited in the use of physical force to such
measures as are necessary to protect the persons and property of our citizens,
and while abstaining from any manner of interference with the domestic
concerns of the islands, you should indicate your willingness to intervene with
your friendly offices in the interests of a peaceful settlement of troubles
within the limits of sound discretion.

Should it be necessary to land an armed
force upon Hawaiian territory on occasions of popular disturbance, when
the local authority may be unable to give adequate protection to the life
and property of citizens of the United States, the assent of such authority
should first be obtained if it can be done without prejudice to the interests
involved.

Your power in this regard should not,
however, be claimed to the exclusion of similar measures by the representatives
of other powers for the protection of the lives and property of their citizens
or subjects residing in the islands.

While the United States
claim no right to interfere in the political or domestic affairs or in the
internal conflicts of the Hawaiian Islands otherwise than as herein stated, or
for the purpose of maintaining any treaty or other rights which they possess,
this Government will adhere to its consistent and established policy in
relation to them, and it will not acquiesce in domestic interference by other
powers.

The foregoing general
exposition of the President’s views will indicate the safe courses within
which your action should be shaped paid mark the limits of your discretion
in calling upon the naval commander for cooperation.

The United States revenue
cutter Rush is under orders to
await you at San Francisco and convey you to Honolulu.

A stenographic clerk will
be detailed to accompany you and remain subject to your orders.

It is expected that you
will use all convenient dispatch for the fulfillment of your mission, as it is
the President’s desire to have the results before him at the earliest
possible day. Besides the connected report you are expected to furnish, you
will from time to time, as occasion may offer, correspond with the Secretary of
State, communicating information or soliciting special instruction on such points
as you may deem necessary. In case of urgency you may telegraph either in plain
text or in the cipher of the Navy Department through the kind offices of the
admiral commanding, which may be sent to Mr. W. A. Cooper, United States
dispatch agent at San Francisco, to be transmitted thence.

Reposing the amplest
confidence in your ability and zeal for the realization of the trust concluded
to you,

I am, sir, your obedient
servant,

W.Q. GRESHAM

Hon. JAMES H. BLOUNT, etc.

On the 29th of
the same month I reached the city of Honolulu. The American minister, Hon. John
L. Stevens, accompanied by a committee from the Annexation Club, came on
board the vessel which had brought me. He informed me that this club had rented
an elegant house, well furnished, and provided servants and a carriage and
horses for my use; that I could pay for this accommodation just what I chose,
from nothing UP? He urged me very earnestly to accept the offer. I declined it,
and informed him that I should go to a hotel.

The committee
soon after this renewed the offer, which I again declined.

Soon
afterwards the ex-Queen, through her chamberlain, tendered her carriage to
convey me to my hotel. This I courteously declined.

I located
myself at the Hawaiian Hotel. For several days I was engaged receiving calls
from persons of all classes and of various political views. I soon became
conscious of the fact that all minds were quietly and anxiously looking to see
what action the Government of the United States would take.

The troops
from the Boston were doing military duty
for the Provisional Government. The American flag was floating over the
government building. Within it the Provisional Government conducted its
business under an American protectorate, to be continued, according to the
avowed purpose of the American minister, during negotiations with the United
States for annexation.

My
instructions directed me to make inquiries which in the interest of candor and
truth could not be done when the minds of thousands of Hawaiian citizens were full
of uncertainty as to what the presence of American troops, the American flag,
and the American protectorate implied. It seemed necessary that all these
influences must be withdrawn before those inquiries could be prosecuted in a
manner befitting the dignity and power of the United States.

Inspired with such feelings and confident no disorder would ensue, I
directed the removal of the flag of the United States from the government
building and the return of the American troops to their vessels. This was
accomplished without any demonstration of joy or grief on the part of the
populace.

The afternoon before, in an interview with President Dole, in response to
my inquiry, he said that the Provisional Government was now able to preserve
order, although it could not have done so for several Weeks after the
proclamation establishing it.

In the evening of this same day the American minister called on me with a
Mr. Walter G. Smith, who, he said, desired to make an important
communication to me, and whom lie knew to be very intelligent and reliable.
Thereupon Mr. Smith, with intense gravity, informed me that he knew beyond
doubt that it had been arranged between the Queen and the Japanese commissioner
that if the American flag and troops were removed the troops from the Japanese
man of war .Naniwa would land and
reinstate the Queen.

Mr. Smith was the editor of the Hawaiian Star, established by the
Annexation Club for the purpose of advocating annexation.

The American minister expressed his belief in the statement of Mr. Smith
and urged the importance of the American troops remaining on shore until I
could communicate with you and you could have the opportunity to communicate
with the Japanese Government and obtain from it assurances that Japanese troops
would not be landed to enforce any policy on the Government or people of the
Hawaiian Islands.

I was not impressed much with these statements.

When the Japanese commissioner learned that the presence of the Japanese
man of war was giving currency to suggestions that his Government intended to
interfere with domestic affairs here, he wrote to his Government asking that
the vessel be ordered away, which was done. He expressed to me his deep regret
that any one should charge that the Empire of Japan, having so many reasons to
value the friendship of the Government of the United States, would consent
to offend that Government by interfering in the political conflicts in these
islands, to which it was averse.

In the light of subsequent events, I trust the correctness of my action
will be the more fully justified.

The Provisional Government left to its own preservation, the people freed
from any fear of free intercourse with me in so far as my action could
accomplish it, the disposition of the minds of all people to peace pending the
consideration by the Government of the United States as to what should be its
action in connection with affairs here, cleared the way for me to commence the
investigation with which I was charged.

The causes of the revolution culminating in the dethronement of the Queen
and the establishment of the Provisional Government, January 17, 1893, are
remote and proximate. A brief presentation of the former will aid in a fuller
apprehension of the latter.

On June 14, 1852, a constitution
was granted by Kamehameha III, by and with the advice and consent of the nobles
and representatives in legislative council. This instrument provided for a
house of nobles holding their seats for life, and that the number should not
exceed thirty, and a house of representatives composed of not less than
twenty-four nor more than forty members. Every male subject, whether native or
naturalized, and every denizen of the Kingdom who had paid his taxes, attained
the age of twenty-one years, and had resided in the Kingdom for one year
immediately preceding the time of election was entitled to vote for the
representative or representatives of the district in which he may have resided
three months next preceding the day of election.

For convenience the following
extracts from that instrument are inserted here:

Art. 32. He has the power, by and with the advice of his
cabinet, and the approval of his privy council, to appoint and remove at his
pleasure any of the several heads of the executive departments, and he may
require information in writing from any of the officers in the executive
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective
offices.

Art. 35. The person of the King is inviolable and sacred;
his ministers are responsible; to the King belongs the executive power; all
laws that have passed both houses of the legislature fir and the Kuhina Nui;
all his’ their validity, shall be signed by His Majesty other official
acts shall be approved by the privy council3 countersigned by the
Kuhina Nui, and by the minister to whose department such act may belong.

Art 51. The ministers of the Kin5 are
appointed and commissioned by him, and hold their offices during His Majesty s
pleasure, subject to impeachment.

Art. 72. The King appoints the members of the house of
nobles, who hold their seats during life, subject to the provision of article
67; but their number shall not exceed thirty.

Art. 75. The house of representatives shall be composed
of not less than twenty-four nor more than forty members, who shall be elected
annually.

Art. 78. Every male subject of His Majesty, whether
native or naturalized, and every denizen of the Kingdom who shall have paid his
taxes who shall have attained the full age of 20 years, and who shall have
resided in the Kingdom for one year immediately preceding the time of election,
shall be entitled to one vote for the representative or representatives of the
district in which he may have resided three months next preceding the day of
election; provided that no insane person, nor any person who shall at any time
have been convicted of any infamous crime within the Kingdom, unless he shall
have been pardoned by the King, and by the terms of such pardon been restored
to all the rights of a subject, shall be allowed, to vote.

Art. 105. Any amendment or amendments to this
Constitution may be proposed in either branch of the legislature, and if the
same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members of each house such
proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the
yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the next legislature; which
proposed amendment or amendments shall be published for three months previous
to the election of the next house of representatives. And it in the next
legislature, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by
two-thirds of all the members of each house, and be approved by the King, such
amendment or amendments shall become part of the Constitution of this Kingdom.

In November, 1863, Kamehameha V was
proclaimed King,. on the death of Kamehameha IV. He issued a proclamation for
the election of delegates to a constitutional convention to be held June 13,
1864. The convention was composed of sixteen nobles and twenty-seven elected
delegates, presided over by the King in person. That body decided it had a
right to proceed to make a new constitution. Not being in accord with the King
on the question of a property qualification for voters, on the 13th day of
August, 1864, he declared the constitution of 1852 abrogated and prorogued the
convention. On the 20th of August following he proclaimed a new constitution
upon his own authority, which continued in force twenty-three years.

From this the following extracts are
made:

Art. 45. The legislative power of the three estates of
this Kingdom is vested in the King and the legislative assembly which assembly
shall consist of the nobles appointed by the King and of the representatives of
the people, sitting together.

Art. 57. The King appoints the nobles, who shall hold
their appointments during life, subject to the provisions of article 53; but
their number shall not exceed twenty.

Art. 61. No person shall be eligible for a representative
of the people who is insane or an idiot; nor unless he be a male subject of the
Kingdom, who shall have arrived at the full age of twenty-one years, who shall
know how to read and write, who shall understand accounts, and shall have been
domiciled in the Kingdom for at least three years, the last of which shall be
the year Immediately preceding his election, and who shall own real estate
within the Kingdom of a clear value, over and above all inc encumbrances,, of
at least five hundred dollars, or who shall have an annual income of at least
two hundred and fifty dollars derived front any property or some lawful
employment.

Art. 62. Every male subject of the Kingdom, who shall
have paid his taxes, who shall have attained the age of twenty years, and shall
have been domiciled in the Kingdom for one year immediately preceding the
election, and shall be possessed of real property in this Kingdom to the value
over and above all encumbrances of one hundred fifty dollars --*or of a
leasehold property on which the rent is twenty-five dollars per year—or
of an income of not less than seventy-five dollars per year, derived from any
property or some lawful employment and shall know how to read and write, if
born since the year 1840 and shall have caused his name to be entered on the
list of voters of his district as may be provided by law, shall be entitled
to one vote for the representative or representatives of that district; provided,
however, that no insane or idiotic person, minor any person who shall have been
convicted of any infamous crime within this Kingdom, unless he shall have been
pardoned by the King, and by the terms of such pardon have been restored to all
the rights of a subject, shall be allowed to vote.

Art. 80. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution
may be proposed in the legislative assembly, and if the nine shall be agreed to
by a majority of the members thereof, such proposed amendment or amendments
shall be entered on its journal, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and
referred to the next legislature; which proposed amendment or amendments shall
be published for three mouths previous to the next election of
representatives; and mf in the next legislature such proposed amendment or
amendments shall be agreed to by two-thirds of all the members of the
legislative assembly, and be approved by the King, such amendment or amendments
shall become part of the constitution of this country.

On the 18th of
February, 1874, David Kalakaua was proclaimed King. In 1875 a treaty of
commercial reciprocity between the United States and the Hawaiian Islands was
ratified, anti the laws necessary to carry it into operation were enacted in
1876. It provided, as you are aware, for the free importation into the United
States of several articles, amongst which was muscavado, brown, and all other
unrefined sugars, syrups of sugar cane, melada, and molasses, produced in the
Hawaiian Islands.

From it there
came to the islands an intoxicating increase of wealth, a new labor system, an
Asiatic population, an alienation between the native and white races, an
impoverishment of the former, an enrichment of the latter, and the many
so-called revolutions, which are the foundation for the opinion that stable
government can not be maintained.

(The deaths in
all these revolutions were seven. There were also seven wounded.)

The sugar
export in 1876 was 26,072,429 pounds- in 1887 it was 212,763,647. The total
value of all domestic exports was in 1876, $1,994,833.55, and in 1887,
$9,435,204. The bounty paid on sugar by the United States to the sugar planters
in the remission of customs on sugar before the McKinley bill was passed, is
estimated by competent persons as reaching $5,000,000 annually.

The government and crown lands were bought and leased and operated
by whites of American, English, and German origin, and the sugar industry went
into the hands of corporations.

From 1852 to
1876 there had been imported 2,625 Chinese, 148 Japanese, and 7 South Sea
Islanders, making a total of 2,780. From 1876 to 1887 there were imported
23,268 Chinese, 2,777 Japanese, 10,216 Portuguese, 615 Norwegians, 1,052
Germans, 1,998 South Sea Islanders, making a total fur this one decade of
39,926 immigrants. The Government expended from 1876 to 1887 $1,020,212.30 in
aid of the importation of labor for the planters, who for the same period expended
$565,547.74. It negotiated with various governments treaties under which labor
was imported for a term of years to work at a very low figure, and under which
the laborer was to be compelled by fines and imprisonment to labor faithfully
and to remain with his employer to the end of the contract term.

Of 14,439 laborers on plantations in 1885, 2,130 were natives and the
remainder imported labor. Generally, the rule has obtained of bringing
twenty-five women for every one hundred men. The immigrants were of the poor
and ignorant classes. The Portuguese especially, as a rule, could not read or
write and were remarkably thievish. The women of Japanese and Chinese origin
were grossly unchaste.

The price of all property advanced. The price of labor was depressed
by enormous importations and by the efficiency accruing from compulsory
performance of the contract by the Government.

In the year 1845, under the influence of white residents the lands were
so distributed between the crown, the Government, the Chiefs, and the people as
to leave the latter with an insignificant interest in lands— 27,830
acres.

The story of this division is discreditable to King, chiefs, and white
residents, but would be tedious here. The chiefs became largely indebted to the
whites, and thus the foundation for the large holdings of the latter was laid.

Prior to 1870 the kings were controlled largely by such men as Dr. Judd,
Mr. Wyllie, and other leading white citizens holding positions in their
cabinets.

A king rarely changed his cabinet. The important offices were held by
white men. A feeling of amity existed between the native and foreign races
unmarred by hostile conflict. It should be noted that at this period the native
generally knew how to read and write his native tongue, into which the Bible
and a few English works were translated. To this, native newspapers of
extensive circulation contributed to the awakening of his intellect. He also
generally read and wrote English.

From 1820 to 1806 missionaries of various nationalities, especially American,
with unselfishness, toil, patience, and piety, had devoted themselves to the
improvement of the native. They gave them a language, a religion, and an
immense movement on the lines of civilization. In process of time the
descendants of these good men grew up in secular pursuits. Superior by
nature, education, and other opportunities, they acquired wealth. They sought
to succeed to the political control exercised by their fathers. The revered
missionary disappeared. In his stead there came the Anglo-Saxon in time person
of his son, ambitions to acquire wealth and to continue that political
control reverently conceded to his pious ancestor. hence, in satire, the native
designated him a “missionary,” which has become a campaign phrase
of wonderful potency. Other white foreigners came into the country, especially
Americans, English, and Germans. These, as a rule, did not become naturalized
and participate in the voting franchise. Business and race affiliation
occasioned sympathy and cooperation between these two classes of persons of
foreign extraction.

Does this narration of facts portray a situation in a government in whole
or in part representative favorable to the ambition of a leader who will
espouse the native cause! Would it be strange for him to stir the native heart
by picturing a system of political control under which the foreigner had
wickedly become possessed of the soil, degraded free labor by an
uncivilized system of coolie labor, prostituted society by injecting into it a
people hostile to Christianity and the civilization of the nineteenth century,
exposed their own daughters to the evil influence of an overwhelming male
population of a degraded type( implanted Japanese and Chinese women almost
insensible to feelings of chastity, and then loudly boasted of their
Christianity!

On the other hand, was it not natural for the white race to vaunt their
wealth and intelligence, their Christian success in rescuing the native from
barbarism, their gift of a Government regal in name but containing many of the
principles of freedom; to find in the natives defective intelligence,
tendencies to idolatry, to race prejudice, and a disposition under the
influence of white and halt-white headers to exercise political domination; to
speak of their thriftlessness in private life and susceptibility to bribes in
legislative action; to proclaim the unchasteness of native women, and to take
at all hazards the direction of public affairs from the native!

With such a powerful tendency to divergence and political strife, with
its attendant bitterness and exaggerations, we must enter upon tile field of
inquiry pointed out in your instructions.

It is not my purpose to take up this racial controversy at its birth, but
when it had reached striking proportions and powerfully acted in the evolution
of grave political events culminating in the present status. Nor shall I relate
all the minute details of political controversy at any given period, but
only such and to such extent as may illustrate the purpose just indicated.

It has already appeared that under the constitution of 1852 the legislature
consisted of two bodies—one elected by the people and the other chosen by
the King—and that no property qualifications hindered the right of
suffrage. The King and people through tile two bodies held a cheek on each
other. It has also been shown that in 1804 by a royal proclamation a new
constitution, sanctioned by a cabinet of prominent white men, was established,
restricting the right of suffrage’ and combining the representative and
nobles into one body. This latter provision was designed to strengthen the
power of the Crown by removing a body distinctly representative. This
instrument remained in force twenty-three years. The Crown appointed the nobles
generally from white men of property and intelligence. In like manner the King
selected his cabinet. These remained in office for a bug series of years and
directed the general conduct of public affairs.

Chief Justice Judd, of the supreme court of the Hawaiian Islands, in a
formal statement uses this language:

Under every constitution
prior to 1887 the ministers were appointed by the King and removed by him; but
until Kalakaua ‘s reign it was a very rare thing that any King changed
his ministry. They had a pretty long lease of political life. My father was
minister for seven or ten years and Mr. Wyllie for a longer period. It was a
very rare political occurrence and made a great sensation when a change was
made. Tinder Kalakaua things were different. I think we had twenty-six
different cabinets during his reign.

The record discloses thirteen cabinets. Two of these were directly forced
on him by the reformers. Of the others, six were in sympathy with the reformers
and eminent in their confidence. The great stir in cabinet changes commenced
with the Gibson cabinet in 1882. He was a man of large information, free from
all suspicion of bribery, politically ambitious, and led the natives and
some whites.

It may not be amiss to present some of the criticisms against Kalakaua
and his party formally filed with me by Prof. W. D. Alexander, a representative
reformer.

On the 12th of February, 1874, Kalakaua was elected King by the
legislature. The popular choice lay between him and the Queen Dowager.

In regard to this, Mr. Alexander says that “the cabinet and the
American party used all their influence in favor of the former, while the
English favored Queen Emma, who was devoted to their interest.”

Notwithstanding there were objections to Kalakaua’ s character, he
says: “It was believed, however, that if Queen Emma should be elected
there would be no hope of our obtaining a reciprocity treaty with the United
States.”

He gives an account of various obnoxious measures advocated by the King
which were defeated.

In 1882 he says the race issue was raised by Mr. Gibson, and only two
white men were elected to the legislature on the islands.

A bill prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to natives was repealed
at this session.

A $10,000,000-loan bill was again introduced, but was shelved in
committee. The appropriation bill was swelled to double the estimated receipts
of the Government, including $30,000 for coronation expenses, besides large
sums for military expenses, foreign embassies, etc.

A bill was reported giving the King power to appoint district justices,
which had formerly been done by the justices of the supreme court.

A million of dollars of silver was coined by the King, worth 84 cents to
the dollar, which was intended to be exchanged for gold bonds at par, under the
loan act of 1882. This proceeding was enjoined by the court. The privy council
declared the coin to be of the legal value expressed on their face, subject to
the legal-tender act, and they were gradually put into circulation. A profit of
$150,000 is said to have been made on this transaction.

In 1884 a reform legislature was elected. A lottery bill, an opium
license bill, and an $8,000,000 loan bill were defeated.

In the election for the legislature of 1880 it is alleged that by the use
of gin, chiefly furnished by the King, and by the use of his patronage, it
was carried against the reform party; that out of twenty-eight candidates,
twenty-six were office-holders—one a tax assessor and one the
Queen’s secretary. There was only one white man on the Government
ticket Gibson’s son-in-law Only ten reform candidates were elected. In
this legislature an opium bill was passed providing for a license for four
years, to be granted by the minister of the interior with the consent of the
King, for $30,000 per annum.

Another act was passed to create a Hawaiian board of health, consisting
of five native doctors, appointed by the King, with power to issue certificates
to native kahunas (doctors) to practice
medicine.

A $2,000,000-loan bill was passed, which was used largely in taking up
bonds on a former loan.

It is claimed that in granting the lottery franchise the King fraudulently
obtained $75,000 for the franchise and then sold it to another person, and that
subsequently the King was compelled to refund the same.

These are the principal allegations on which the revolution of 1887 is
justified.

None of the legislation complained of would have been considered a cause
for revolution in any one of the United States, but would have been used in the
elections to expel the authors from power. The alleged corrupt action of the
King could have been avoided by more careful legislation and would have been a
complete remedy for the future.

The rate of taxation on real or personal property never exceeded 1 per
cent.

To all this the answer comes from the reformers: “The native is
unfit for government and his power must be curtailed.”

The general belief that the king had accepted what is termed the opium
bribe and the failure of his efforts to unite the Samoan Islands with his own
Kingdom had a depressing influence on his friends, and his opponents used it
with all the effect they could.

The last cabinet prior to the revolution of 1887 was anti-reform. Three
of its members were half castes; two of them were and are recognized as lawyers
of ability by alt.

At this point I invite attention to the following extract from a formal
colloquy between Chief Justice Judd and myself touching the means adopted to
extort the constitution of 1887, and the fundamental changes wrought through
that instrument:

Q. Will you be kind enough
to state how this new constitution was established?

A. The
two events which brought this matter to a culminating point were (1) the opium
steal of $71,000 by which a Chinaman named Aki was made by the King to pay him
a bribe of $71,000 of hard coin in order to obtain the exclusive franchise
for selling opium, and (2) the expense of the expedition to Samoa in the
“Kaimiloa.” A secret league was formed all over the islands, the
result of which was the King was asked to promulgate a new constitution
containing those provisions that I have before alluded to. It was very adroitly
managed by the Ashford’s, and more especially by V. V. Ashford, who
obtained the confidence of the King and Mr. Gibson. lie was the colonel of the
Rifles, and he assured them that if lie was paid a certain sum of money and
made minister to Canada that he would arrange it so that the movement would be
futile.

Q. How was he to do that?

A. By
preventing the use of the military, I suppose; and he arranged with the
military authorities and Capt. Haley that they should be called out to preserve
public order, although it was this large and well-drilled force which made fear
that if he didn’t yield things would be very critical for him.

Q. Was that a Government
force?

A. It was organized under
the laws.

Q A volunteer organization?

A. Yes.

Q. So that the men in sympathy with the
movement of this secret league went Into it and constituted it under form of
law.

A. Of course I do not know
what was told the King privately, but I knew that he felt it would be very
dangerous to refuse to promulgate the new constitution. I have no doubt that a
great many things were circulated which came to his ears in the way of threats
that was unfounded.

Q. What was the outside
manifestation?

A. One great feature of it was its
secrecy. The King was frightened at this secrecy. It was very well managed. The
judges of the supreme court were not told of it until just before the event
took place. I think it was the 2d or 3d of July, 1887.

Q. Was there then a mass
meeting?

A. There was a large mass
meeting held and a set of resolutions was presented to the King requiring that
a new ministry be formed by Mr. W. L. ‘Green and one other person, whose
name I have forgotten.

Q. Was there any display of
force?

A. The Honolulu Rifles were in detachments
marched about in different portions of the town, having been called out by the
legal military authorities.

Q. Who were the legal military
authorities?

A. The governor of the island, Dominis,
and Capt. H. Burrill Haley, the adjutant-general.

Q. Were they in sympathy
with the movement?

A. No, sir; the officers of
the corps were in sympathy with the movement.

Q. Who were they? *

A. Ashford and Hebbard. I do not remember
all.

Q Did the governor order then~ out, not
knowing of this state of things?

A. I think he did. I think
he knew it, but it was to prevent as I believe, something worse happening.
As I said, there were threats made.

Q. Of what sort?

A. I understood that at one
time there was a very strong feeling that the King should be forced to abdicate
altogether, and it was only the more conservative men born here who said that
the King and the Hawaiians should have another opportunity.

Q. Were there not two elements in that
movement, one for a republic and the other for restraining the power of the
King?

A.
Yes.

Q. Were there not two
forces in this movement cooperating together up to a certain point to wit,
those who were in favor of restraining the King by virtue of the provisions of
the constitution of 1887 and those who were in favor of dethroning the King and
establishing a republic?

A. I understand that there
were, and that the more conservative view prevailed.

Q And the men who were in favor of a
republic were discontented at the outcome?

A. They were, and they
didn’t want the Hawaiians to vote at all; and the reason that the
Portuguese were allowed to vote was to balance the native vote.

Q. Whose idea was
that—was that the idea of the men who made the new constitution?

A. Of the men who made the new
constitution.

Q. It was to balance the
native vote with the Portuguese vote?

A. That was the idea.

Q. And that would throw the
political power into the hands of the intelligence and wealth of the country?

A. That was the aim.

Q. How was this military
used?

A. It was put about in
squads over the city.

Q. The officers of the
corps were really in favor of the movement for the new constitution and were
called out by Governor Dominis to preserve order?

A. Yes. After the affair
was over he was thanked by a military order from headquarters.

Q. Do you suppose that he
was gratified with thanks under the circumstances?

A. Haley said to me when he
showed me the order: “It is a little funny to thank a man who kicked you
out, but I suppose I’ve got to do it.”

Q. The King acceded to the
demand for a new constitution and of a cabinet of given character?

A. In the first place he
acceded to the proposition to make a new cabinet named by Mr. Green. The former
cabinet, consisting of Mr. Gibson and three Hawaiians, had just resigned a day
or two before. In three or four days the cabinet waited upon him with the
constitution.

Q. What cabinet?

A The cabinet consisting of Mr. Green,
minister of foreign affairs; Mr. Thurston, minister of the interior; Mr. C. W.
Ashford, attorney-general; and Mr. Godfrey Brown, minister of finance. I
was seat for in the afternoon of July 5 to swear the King to the constitution.
When 1 reached the palace they were all there, and the King asked me in Hawaiian
whether he had better sign it or not. I said, “You must follow the advice
of your responsible ministers.” He signed it.

Q. This ministry had been
appointed as the result of the demand of the mass meeting?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And then
having been appointed, they presented him with the constitution of

1887?

A.Yes, sir.

Q. And he signed it?

A. He did.

Q. Was that constitution
ever submitted to a popular vote for ratification?

A. No; it was not. There
was no direct vote ratifying the constitution, but its provisions requiring
that no one should vote unless he had taken an oath to support it, and a large
number voted at that first election, was considered a virtual ratification
of the constitution.

Q. If they voted at all
they were considered as accepting it?

A. Yes, sir I do not think any large
number refused to take the oath to it.

Q. It was not contemplated
by the mass meeting, nor the cabinet, nor anybody in power to submit the matter
of ratification at all?

A. No, it was not. It was
considered a revolution. It was a successful revolutionary act.

Q. And, therefore, was not
submitted to a popular vote for ratification?

A. Yes, sir. It had mischievous effects in
encouraging the Wilcox revolution of 1889, which was unsuccessful. I think it
was a bad precedent only the exigencies of the occasion seemed to demand it.

Without
adding other testimony on the mode of extorting the new constitution or
accepting this statement as full and unbiased, it is enough that it brings me
to a point at which I may present important changes in the Hawaiian
constitution and their application to the social and political conditions of
time. Your attention is now invited to the fo1lowing amendments in the
constitution of 1887:

Art. 41. The cabinet shall consist of the minister of
foreign affairs, the minister of the interior, the minister of finance, and the
attorney-general, and they shall be His Majesty’s special advisers in the
executive affairs of the Kingdom; and they shall be ex officio members of His Majesty’s privy council of state.
They shall be appointed and commissioned by the King, and shall be removed by
him only upon a vote of want of confidence passed by a majority of all the
elective members of the legislature, or upon conviction of felony, and shall be
subject to impeachment. No act of the King shall have any effect unless it be
countersigned by a member of the cabinet, who, by that signature, makes himself
responsible.

Art. 42. Each member of the cabinet shall keep an office
at the scat of Government, and shall be accountable for the conduct of his
deputies and clerks. The cabinet hold seats ex officio In the legislature, with
the right to vote, except on a question of want of confidence in them.

Art. 47. The legislature has full power and authority to
amend the constitution as hereinafter provided, and from time to time to make
all manner of wholesome laws, not repugnant to the constitution.

Art. 56. A noble shall be a subject of the Kingdom, who
shall have attained the age of twenty-five years, and resided in the Kingdom
three years, and shall be the owner of taxable property in this Kingdom of the
value of three thousand dollars over and above all encumbrances, or in receipt
of an income of not less than $600 per annum.

Art. 58. Twenty-four nobles shall be elected as follows:
Six from the Island of Hawaii; six from the Islands of Maui, Molokai, and
Lanai; nine from the Island of Oahu; and three from the islands of Kauai and
Niihau. At the first election held under this Constitution, the nobles shall be
elected to serve until the general election to the legislature for the year of
our Lord 1890, at which election, and thereafter, the nobles shall be elected
at the same time and places as the representatives. At the election for the
year of our Lord 1890, one-third of the nobles from each of the divisions
aforesaid shall be elected for two years, and one-third for four years, and
one-third for six years, and the electors shall ballot for them for such terms,
respectively; and at all subsequent general elections they shall be
elected for six years. The nobles shall serve without pay.

Art. 59. Every male resident of the Hawaiian Islands, of
Hawaiian, American, or European birth or descent who shall have attained the
age of twenty years, and shall have paid his taxes, and shall have caused his
name to be entered on the list of voters for nobles of his district, shall be
an elector of nobles, and shall be entitled to vote at any election of nobles,
provided:

First. That he shall have
resided in the country not less than three years, and in the district in which
he offers to vote not less than three months immediately pro-ceding the
election at which he offers to vote;

Second. That he shall own
and be possessed, in his own right, of taxable property in this country of the
value of not less than $3,000 over and above all incumbrances, or shall have
actually received an income of not less than $600 during the year next
preceding his registration for such election;

Third. That be shall be
able to read and comprehend an ordinary newspaper printed in either the
Hawaiian, English, or some European language;

Fourth. That ho shall have
taken an oath to support the constitution and laws, such oath to be
administered by any person authorized to administer oaths, or by any inspector
of elections;

Provide however, That the requirements of a three years’
residence and of ability to read and comprehend an ordinary newspaper, printed
either in the Hawaiian, English, or some European language, shall not apply to
persons residing in the Kingdom at the the of the promulgation of this
constitution, if they shall register and vote at the first election which shall
be held under this constitution.

Art. 60. There shall be twenty-four representatives of
the people elected biennially, except those first elected under this
constitution, who shall serve until the general election for the year of our
Lord 1890. The representation shall be based upon the principles of equality
and shall be regulated and apportioned by the legislature according to the
population to be ascertained from time to time b the official census. But until
such apportionment by the legislature, the apportionment now established by law
shall remain in force, with the following exceptions, namely:

There shall be but two representatives
for the districts of Hilo and Puna on the island of Hawaii, but one for the
districts of Lahaina and Kaanapali on the island of Maui, and but one for the
districts of Koolauloa and Waialua on the island of Oahu.

Art. 61. No person shall be eligible as a representative
of the people unless he be a male subject of the Kingdom, who shall have
arrived at the full age of twenty-one years; who shall know how to read and
write either the Hawaiian, English, or some European language; who shall understand
accounts; who shall have been domiciled in the Kingdom or at least three years,
the last of which shall be the year immediately preceding his election;
and who shall own real estate within the Kingdom of a clear value, over and
above all encumbrances, of at least $500; or who shall have an annual income of
at least $250, derived from any property or seine lawful employment.

Art. 62. Every male resident of the Kingdom, of Hawaiian,
American, or European can birth or descent, who shall have taken an oath
to support the constitution and laws in the manner provided for electors of
nobles; who shall have paid his taxes; who shall have attained the age of
twenty years; and shall have been domiciled in the Kingdom for one year
immediately preceding the election, and shall knew how to read and write either
the Hawaiian, English, or some European language (if born since the year 1840,
and shall have caused his name to be entered en the list of voters of his
district as may be provided by law, shall be entitled to one vote for the
representative or representatives of that district, provided~ however, that the
requirements of being domiciled in the Kingdom for one year immediately
preceding the election, and of knowing how to read and write either the
Hawaiian, English, or some European language, shall not apply to persons
residing in this Kingdom at the time of the promulgation of this constitution,
if they shall register and vote at the first election which shall be held under
this constitution.

Art 63. No person shall sit as a noble or representative
in the legislature unless elected under and in conformity with the provisions
of this constitution. The property of income qualification of representatives,
of nobles, and of electors of nobles may be increased by law, and a property or
income qualification of electors of representatives may be created and altered
by law.

Art. 80. The cabinet shall have power to make and publish
all necessary rules and regulations for the holding of any election or
elections under this constitution * prior to the passage by the legislature of
appropriate laws for such purpose, and to provide for administering to
officials, subjects, and residents the oath to support this constitution. The
first election hereunder shall be held within ninety days after the
promulgation of this constitution, arid the legislature thou elected may ho convened
at Honolulu, upon the call of the cabinet council in extraordinary session at
such time as the cabinet council may deem necessary, thirty days’ notice
thereof being previously given.

Art. 82. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution
may be proposed in the legislature, and if the same shall be agreed to by a
majority of the members thereof, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be
entered on its journal, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to
the next legislature; which proposed amendment or amendments shall be published
for three months previous to * the next election of representatives and nobles;
and if in the next legislature such proposed amendment or amendments shall be
agreed to by two-thirds of all the members of the legislature, such amendment
or amendments shall become part of the constitution of this Kingdom.

These
sections disclose:

First. A
purpose to take from the King the power to appoint nobles and to vest it in
persons having $3,000 worth of unincumbered property or an annual income
above the expense of living of $600. This gave to the whites three-fourths of
the vote for nobles and one-fourth to the natives.

The provisos
to the fourth section of article 59, and article 62 have this significant
application. Between the years 1878 and 1886 the Hawaiian Government imported
from Madeira and the Azores Islands 10,216 contract laborers, men, women, and
children. Assume, for convenience of argument, that 2,000 of these were
males of twenty years and upward. Very few of them could read and write. Only
three of them were naturalized up to 1888, and since then only five more have
become so. The remainder are subjects of Portugal. These were admitted to vote
on taking the following oath and receiving the accompanying certificate:

No.—.

Hawaiian Islands,

Island
of________, district of
_________,ss.

I, ––––– , aged
–––––– , a native of
–––––– , residing at
––––––– , in said district, do

solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that
I will support the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom promulgated and
proclaimed on the 7th day of July, 1887, and the laws of said Kingdom. Not
hereby renouncing, but expressly reserving, all allegiance and citizenship now
owing or held by me

Subscribed and sworn to
before me this ___ day of ____, A. D.. 18—.

_________________

Inspector
of Election.

No.—.

Hawaiian Islands,

Island of _________,, District of _____,, ss.

I, the undersigned,
inspector of election, duly appointed and commissioned do hereby certify that
–––––– , aged
–––––– , a native
of–––––– , residing at
–––––––, in said district, has this
day taken before me the oath to support the constitution of the Hawaiian
Kingdom promulgated and proclaimed on the 7th day of July, and the laws of said
Kingdom.

_________________

Inspector
of Election.

–––––
––– 18—.

These
ignorant laborers were taken before the election from the cane fields in large
numbers by the overseer before the proper officer to administer the oath and
then carried to the polls and voted according to the will of the plantation
manager. Why was this done? In the language of the Chief Justice Judd,
“to balance the native vote with the Portuguese vote.” This same
purpose is admitted by all persons here. Again, large numbers of Americans,
Germans, English, and other foreigners unnaturalized were permitted to vote
under the foregoing form.

Two-thirds of
this number were never naturalized, but voted under the above form of oath and
certificate. They were citizens of the United States, Germany, and Great
Britain, invited to vote under this constitution to neutralize further the
native voting strength. This same action was taken in connection with other
European populations.

For the first
time in the history of the country the number of nobles is made equal to the
number of representatives. This furnished a veto power over the representatives
of the popular vote to the nobles, who were selected by persons mostly holding
foreign allegiance, and not subjects of the Kingdom. The election of a single
representative by the foreign element gave to it the legislature.

The power of
appointing a cabinet was left with the King. His power to remove one was taken
away. The removal could only be accomplished by a vote of want of
confidence by a majority of all the elective members of the legislature. The
tenure of office of a cabinet minister henceforth depends on the pleasure of
the legislature, or, to speak practically, on the favor of certain
foreigners, Americans and Europeans.

Then it is
declared that no act of the King shall have any effect unless it be
countersigned by a member of the cabinet, who by that signature makes
himself responsible. Power is taken from the King in the selection of nobles,
not to be given to the masses but to the wealthy classes, a large majority of
whom are not subjects of the Kingdom. Power to remove a cabinet is taken away
from him, not to be conferred on a popular body but on one designed to be ruled
by foreign subjects. Power to do any act was taken from the King unless
countersigned by a member of the cabinet. This instrument was never submitted
to the people for approval or rejection, nor was it ever contemplated by its friends
and promoters, and of this no man will make issue.

Prior to this revolution large quantities of arms had been brought by a
secret league from San Francisco and placed amongst its members. The first
election under this constitution took place with the foreign population well
armed and the troops hostile to the crown and people. The result was the
election of what was termed a reform legislature. The mind of an observer of
these events notes henceforth a division of the people by the terms native and
foreigner. It does not import race hostility simply. It is founded rather upon
the attempted control of the country by a population of foreign origin and
zealously holding allegiance to foreign powers. It had an alliance with
natives of foreign parentage, some of whom were the descendants of missionary
ancestors. Hence the terms “foreigner” and “missionary”
in Hawaiian politics have their peculiar significance.

Foreign ships of great powers lying in the port of Honolulu to protect
the persons and property of their citizens, and these same citizens left by
their Governments without reproof for participation in such events as I have
related, must have restrained the native mind or indeed any mind from a resort
to physical force. Its means of resistance was naturally what was left of
political power.

In 1890 a legislature was elected in favor of a new constitution. The
calculation of the reformers to elect all the nobles failed, owing to a
defection of whites, especially amongst the intelligent laboring classes in the
city of Honolulu, who were qualified to vote for nobles under the income
clause. The cabinet installed by the revolution was voted out. A new cabinet,
in harmony with the popular will, was appointed and remained in power until the
death of the King in 1891.

In 1892 another legislature was elected. Thrum’s Handbook of
information for 1893, whose author, a reformer and annexationist, is
intelligent and in the employ of the Provisional Government, and whose work is
highly valued by all persons, says, concerning this election:

The result brought to the
legislature three rather evenly balanced parties. This, with an admixture of
self-interest in certain quarters, has been the means of much delay in the
progress of the session, during which there have been no less than three new
cabinets on “want of confidence” resolutions.

Judge
Widemann, of the national reform party, divides the legislature up thus:
“Three parties and some independents. The national reform, reform, and
liberal.” There were nine members of the national reform party, fourteen
members of the reform, twenty-one liberals, and four independents.”

The liberals
favored the old mode of selecting nobles; the national reform party was in
favor of a new constitution reducing the qualification of voters for
nobles, and the reform party was in opposition to both these ideas.

There were a
number of members of all these factions aspiring to be cabinet officers. This
made certain individuals ignore party lines and form combinations to advance
personal interests. The reform party seized upon the situation and made such
combinations as voted out cabinet after cabinet until finally what was termed
the Wilcox cabinet was appointed. This was made up entirely of reformers. Those
members of the national reform and liberal parties who had been acting
with the reform party to this point, and expecting representation in the
cabinet, being disappointed, set to work to vote out this cabinet, which was
finally accomplished.

There was
never a time when the reform party had any approach to a majority of members of
the legislature.

Let it be
borne in mind that the time now was near at hand when the legislature would
probably be prorogued. Whatever cabinet was in power at the time of the
prorogation had control of public affairs until a new legislature should
assemble two years afterwards and longer unless expelled by a vote of want of
confidence.

An anti-reform cabinet was appointed by the Queen. Some faint struggle
was made towards organizing to vote out this cabinet, but it was abandoned. The
legislature was prorogued. The reform members absented themselves from the
session of that day in manifestation of their disappointment in the loss of
power through the cabinet for the ensuing two years.

The letters of the American minister and naval officers stationed at
Honolulu in 1892 indicate that any failure to appoint a ministry of the reform
party would produce a political crisis. The voting out of the Wilcox cabinet
produced a discontent amongst the reformers verging very closely towards one,
and had more to do with the revolution than the Queen’s proclamation. The
first was the foundation—the latter the opportunity.

In the legislatures of 1890 and 1892 many petitions were filed asking for
a new constitution. Many were presented to the King and Queen. The discontent
with the constitution of 1887 and eagerness to escape from it, controlled the
elections against the party which had established it. Divisions on the mode of
changing the constitution, whether by legislative action or by constitutional
convention, and the necessity for a two-thirds vote of the legislature to
effect amendments prevented relief by either method. Such was the situation at
the prorogation of the legislature of 1892.

This was followed by the usual ceremonies at the palace on the day of
prorogation—the presence of the cabinet, supreme court judges, diplomatic
corps, and troops.

The Queen informed her cabinet of her purpose to proclaim a new
constitution, and requested them to sign it.

From the best information I can obtain the changes to the constitution
of 1887 were as follows:

Art. 20. By adding to exceptions: Members of the privy
council, notary public, agents to take acknowledgments.

Art. 22. By adding Princes Kawananakoa and Kalanianaole
as heirs to the throne.

Art. 46. Changing the session of the legislature to the
month of April.

Art. 49. That the Queen shall sign and approve all bills
and resolutions, even to those that are voted when passed over her veto.

Art. 57. The Queen shall appoint the nobles, not to
exceed twenty-four.

Art. 60. The representatives may be increased from
twenty-four, as at present, to forty-eight.

Art. 62. Only subjects shall vote.

Art. 65. The term of appointment of the supreme court
judges, not for life,as before, but for six years.

Art. 75. The appointment of governors of each island for
four-years term.

Her ministers
declined to sign, and two of them communicated to leading reformers (Mr. L. A.
Thurston, Mr. W. 0. Smith, and others) the Queen’s purpose and the
position of the cabinet. Finding herself thwarted by the position of the
cabinet, she declared to the crowd around the palace that she could not give
them a new constitution at that time on account of the action of her ministers,
and that she would do so at some future time. This was construed by some to
mean that she would do so at an early day when some undefined, favorable opportunity
should occur, and by others when a new legislature should assemble and a new
cabinet might favor her policy, or some other than an extreme and revolutionary
course could be resorted to.

It seems that the members of the Queen’s cabinet, after much
urging, prevailed upon her to abandon the idea of proclaiming a new
constitution. The cooperation of the cabinet appears to have been, in the mind
of the Queen, necessary to give effect to her proclamation. This method had
been adopted by Kamehameha V in proclaiming the constitution of 1864. The
constitution of 1887 preserved this same form, in having the King proclaim that
constitution on the recommendation of the cabinet, which he had been prevailed
upon by a committee from the mass meeting to appoint.

The leaders of the movement urged the members of the Queen’s cabinet
not to resign, feeling assured that until they had done so the Queen would not
feel that the power rested in her alone to proclaim a new constitution. In
order to give further evidence of her purpose to abandon the design of
proclaiming it, a proclamation was published on the morning of the 16th of
January, signed by herself and her ministers, pledging her not to do so, and
was communicated to Minister Stevens that morning.

The following papers were among the files of the legation when turned
over to me:

Department of Foreign Affairs,

Honolulu,
H. I., January 16, 1893.

Sir: I have the honor to inclose to your excellency a
copy of a “By Authority” Notice issued this morning by Her
Majesty’s ministers under Her Majesty’s sanction and approval.

I have the honor to be, with the highest
respect your excellency’s obedient servant,

Samuel
Parker,

Minister of
Foreign Affairs.

To His Excellency John L. Stevens,

United States Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honolulu.

By
Authority.

Her Majesty’s
ministers desire to express their appreciation for the quiet and order which
have prevailed in this community since the events of Saturday, and are
authorized to say that the position taken by Her Majesty in regard to the
promulgation of a new constitution was under stress of her native
subjects.

Authority is given for the
assurance that any changes desired in the fundamental law of the land will be
sought only by methods provided in the constitution itself. Her Majesty’s
ministers request all citizens to accept the assurance of Her Majesty in the
same spirit in which it is given.

Liliuokalani.

Samuel
Parker,

Minister of
Foreign Affairs.

W.H. Cornwell,

Minister
of Finance.

John
F. Colburn,

Minister of the
Interior.

A. P. Peterson,

Attorney-
General.

On the same
day a mass meeting of between fifteen hundred and two thousand people
assembled, attended by the leading men in the liberal and national reform
parties, and adopted resolutions as follows:

Resolved, That the assurance of Her Majesty the Queen contained
in this day’s proclamation is accepted by the people as a satisfactory
guaranty that the Government does not and will not seek any modification
of the constitution by any other means than those provided in the organic law.

Resolved, That accepting this assurance, the citizens here
assembled will give their cordial support to the administration, and indorse
them in sustaining that policy.

To the
communication inclosing the Queen’s proclamation just cited, there appears
to have been no response. On the next day, as if to give further assurance, the
following paper was sent to Mr. Stevens:

Sir: The assurances conveyed by a royal proclamation by
myself and ministers yesterday having been received by my native subjects, and
by them ratified at a mass meeting, was received in a different spirit by the
meeting representing the foreign population and interests in my Kingdom. It is
now my desire to give to your excellency, as the diplomatic representative of
the United States of America at my court, the solemn assurance that the present
constitution will be upheld and maintained by me and my ministers, and no
changes will be made except by the methods therein provided.

I desire to express to your
excellency this assurance in the spirit of that friendship which has ever
existed between my Kingdom and that of the Government of the United States of
America, and which I trust will long continue.

Liluokalani
R.

By the Queen:

Samuel
Parker

Minister
of Foreign Affairs.

Wm.
H. Cornwell,

Minister
of Finance.

John
F. Colburn,

Minister
of the Interior.

A.P.
Peterson,

Attorney-General.

IOLANI PALACE

Honolulu,
January 17, 1593.

His Excellency JOHN L. STEVENS,

United States
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Honolulu.

On the back
of the first page of this communication written in pencil is the word
“Declined.” Immediately under the signature of the attorney-general,
also in pencil, is written “1.30 to 1.45,” and at the end of the
second and last page this sentence, written in ink, appears: “Received at
the U. S. Legation about 2 p.m..”

The cabinet
itself could not be removed for two years, and the views of its members were
well known to be against establishing a new constitution by proclamation
of the Queen and cabinet.

Nearly all of
the arms on the island of Oahu, in which Honolulu is situated, were in the
possession of the Queen’s government. A military force, organized and
drilled, occupied the station house, the barracks, and the palace—the
only points of any strategic significance in the event of a conflict.

The great body
of the people moved in their usual course. Women and children passed to and fro
through the streets, seemingly unconscious of any impending danger, and
yet there were secret conferences held by a small body of men, some of whom
were Germans, some Americans, and some native-born subjects of foreign origin.

On Saturday
evening, the 14th of January, they took up the subject of dethroning the Queen
and proclaiming a new Government with a view of annexation to the United
States.

The first and
most momentous question with them was to devise some plan to have the United
States troops landed. Mr. Thurston, who appears to have been the leading
spirit, on Sunday sought two members of the Queen’s cabinet and urged
them to head a movement against the Queen, and to ask Minister Stevens to land
the troops, assuring them that in such an event Mr. Stevens would do so.
Failing to enlist any of the Queen’s cabinet in the cause, it was necessary
to devise some other mode to accomplish this purpose. A committee of safety,
consisting of thirteen members, had been formed from a little body of men
assembled in W. O. Smith’s office. A deputation of these, informing Mr.
Stevens of their plans, arranged with him to land the troops if they would ask
it “for the purpose of protecting life and property.” It was
further agreed between him and them that in the event they should occupy the
government building and proclaim a new government he would recognize it.
The two leading members of the committee, Messrs. Thurston and Smith,
growing uneasy as to the safety of their persons, went to him to know if he
would protect them in the event of their arrest by the authorities, to which he
gave his assent.

At the mass meeting,
called by the committee of safety on the 16th of January, there was no
communication to the crowd of any purpose to dethrone the Queen or to change
the form of government, but only to authorize the committee to take steps to
prevent a consummation of the Queen’s purposes and to have guarantees of
public safety. The committee on public safety had kept their purposes from the
public view at this mass meeting and at their small gatherings for fear of proceedings
against them by the government of the Queen.

After the mass
meeting had closed a call on the American minister for troops was made in the
following terms, and signed indiscriminately by Germans, by Americans, and by
Hawaiian subjects of foreign extraction:

Hawaiian
Islands,

Honolulu,
January 16, 1395.

To His Excellency JOHN L. STEVENS,

American
Minister Resident:

SIR: We,the
undersigned, citizens and residents of Honolulu, respectfully represent that,
in view of recent public events in this Kingdom, culminating in the
revolutionary acts of Queen Liliuokalani on Saturday last, the public safety is
menaced and lives and property are in peril, and we appeal to you and the
United States forces at your command for assistance.

The Queen, with the aid of
armed force and accompanied by threats of violence and bloodshed from those
with whom she was acting, attempted to proclaim a new constitution; and while
prevented for the time from accomplishing her object, declared publicly
that she would only defer her action.

This conduct and action was
upon an occasion and under circumstances which have created general alarm and
terror.

We are unable to protect
ourselves without aid, and, therefore, pray for the protection of the
United States forces.

HENRY B. COOPER,

P. W.
McCHESNEY,

W. C.
WILDER,

C. BOLTS,

A BROWN

WILLIAM O. SMITH,

HENRY WATERHOUSE,

THEO. F. LANSING,

ED. SUHR,

L. A.
THUESTON,

JOHN EMMELUTH,

WM. B. CASTLE,

J. A.
McCANDLESS,

Citizen’s Committee of Safety.

The response
to that call does not appear in the files or on the records of the
American legation. It, therefore, can not speak for itself. The request of the
committee of safety was, however, consented to by the American minister. The
troops were landed.

On that very
night the committee assembled at the house of Henry Waterhouse, one of its members,
living the next door to Mr. Stevens, and finally determined on the dethronement
of the Queen; selected its officers, civil and military, and adjourned to meet
the next morning.

Col. J. H.
Soper, an American citizen, was selected to command the military forces. At
this Waterhouse meeting it was assented to by all that Mr. Stevens had agreed
with the committee of safety that in the event it occupied the Government
building and proclaimed a Provisional Government he would recognize it as
a de facto government.

When the troops were landed on Monday evening, January 16, about 5
o’clock, and began their march through the streets with their small arms,
artillery, etc., a great surprise burst upon the community. To but few was it
understood. Not much time elapsed before it was given out by members of the
committee of safety that they were designed to support them. At the palace,
with the cabinet, amongst the leaders of the Queen’s military forces, and
the great body of the people who were loyal to the Queen, the apprehension came
that it was a movement hostile to the existing Government. Protests were filed
by the minister of foreign affairs and by the governor of the island against
the landing of the troops.

Messrs. Parker and Peterson testify that on Tuesday at 1 o’clock
they called on Mr. Stevens, and by him were informed that in the event the
Queen’s forces assailed the insurrectionary forces he would intervene.

At 2:30 o’clock of the same day the members of the Provisional Government
proceeded to the Government building in squads and read their proclamation.
They had separated in their in march to the Government building for fear of
observation and arrest. There was no sign of an insurrectionary soldier on the
street. The committee of safety sent to the Government building a Mr. A. S.
Wilcox to see who was there and on being informed that there were no Government
forces on the grounds proceeded in the manner I have related and read; their
proclamation. Just before concluding the reading of this instrument fifteen
volunteer troops appeared. Within a half hour afterward some thirty or forty
made their appearance.

A part of the Queen’s forces, numbering 224, were located at the
station house, about one-third of a mile from the Government building. The Queen,
with a body of 50 troops, was located at the palace, north of the Government
building about 400 yards. A little northeast of the palace and some 200 yards
from it, at the barracks, was another body of 272 troops. These forces had 14
pieces of artillery, 386 rifles, and 16 revolvers. West of the Government
building and across a narrow street were posted Capt. Wiltse and his
troops, these likewise having artillery and small-arms.

The Government building is in a quadrangular-shaped piece of ground surrounded
by streets. The American troops were so posted as to be in front of any
movement of troops which should approach the Government building on three
sides, the fourth being occupied by themselves. Any attack on the Government
building from the east side would expose the American troops to the direct fire
of the attacking force. Any movement of troops from the palace toward the
Government building in the event of a conflict between the military forces
would have exposed them to the fire of the Queen’s troops. In fact, it
would have been impossible for a struggle between the Queen’s forces and
the forces of the committee of safety to have taken place without exposing them
to the shots of the Queen’s forces. To use the language of Admiral Skerrett,
the American troops were well located if designed to promote the movement for
the Provisional Government and very improperly located if only intended to
protect American citizens in person and property.

They were doubtless so located to suggest to the Queen and her counselors
that they were in cooperation with the insurrectionary movement, and would
when the emergency arose manifest it by active support.

It did doubtless suggest to the men who read the proclamation that they
were having the support of the American minister and naval commander and were
safe from personal harm.

Why had the American minister located the troops in such a situation
and then assured the members of the committee of safety that on their
occupation of the Government building he would recognize it as a government de
facto, and as such give it support? Why was
the Government building designated to them as the place which, when their
proclamation was announced therefrom, would be followed by his recognition. It
was not a point of any strategic consequence. It did not involve the employment
of a single soldier.

A building was chosen where there were no troops stationed, where there
was no struggle to be made to obtain access, with an American force immediately
contiguous, with the mass of the population impressed with its unfriendly
attitude. Aye, more than this—before any demand for surrender had even
been made on the Queen or on the commander or any officer of any of her
military forces at any of the points where her troops were located, the
American minister had recognized the Provisional Government and was ready to
give it the support of the United States troops!

Mr. Damon, the vice-president of the Provisional Government and a member
of the advisory council, first went to the station house, which was in command
of Marshal Wilson. The cabinet was there located. The vice-president importuned
the cabinet and the military commander to yield up the military forces on the
ground that the American minister had recognized the Provisional Government
and that there ought to be no blood shed.

After considerable conference between Mr. Damon and the ministers he and
they went to the government building.

The cabinet then and there was prevailed upon to go with the
vice-president and some other friends to the Queen and urge her to acquiesce
in the situation. It was pressed upon her by the ministers and other persons at
that conference that it was useless for her to make any contest, because it was
one with the United States; that she could file her protest against what had
taken place and would be entitled to a hearing in the city of Washington. After
consideration of more than an hour she finally concluded, under the advice of
her cabinet and friends, to order the delivery up of her military forces to the
Provisional Government under protest. That paper is in the following form:

I, Liliuokalani, by the grace of God and
under the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly
protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional
Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have
established a provisional government of and for this Kingdom.

That I yield to the superior force of the
United States of America, whose minister plenipotentiary, His Excellency John
L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and
declared that he would support the said provisional government.

Now, to avoid any collision of armed forces and
perhaps the loss of life, I do, under this protest, and impelled by said force,
yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States
shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its
representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the
constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.

Done at Honolulu this 17th day of January,
A. D. 1893.

Liliuokalani R.

Samuel Parker,

Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Wm H. Cornwell,

Minister of finance.

Jno. F. Colburn,

Minister of the Interior.

A.P. Peterson,

Attorney-
General.

All this was accomplished without the firing of a gun, without a demand
for surrender on the part of the insurrectionary forces until they had been
converted into a de facto government by
the recognition of the American minister with American troops, then ready to
interfere in the event of an attack.

In pursuance of a prearranged plan, the Government thus established
hastened off commissioners to Washington to make a treaty for the purpose of
annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.

During the progress of the movement the committee of safety, alarmed at
the fact that the insurrectionists had no troops and no organization,
dispatched to Mr. Stevens three persons, to wit, Messrs. L. A. Thurston, W. C.
Wilder, and H. F. Glade, “to inform him of the situation and ascertain
from him what if any protection or assistance could be afforded by the United
States forces for the protection of life and property, the unanimous sentiment
and feeling being that life and property were in danger.” Mr. Thurston is
a native-born subject; Mr. Wilder is of American origin, but has absolved his
allegiance to the United States and is a naturalized subject; Mr. Glade is a
German subject.

The declaration as to the purposes of the Queen contained in the formal
request for the appointment of a committee of safety in view of the facts which
have been recited, to wit, the action of the Queen and her cabinet, the action
of the Royalist mass meeting, and the peaceful movement of her followers,
indicating assurances of their abandonment, seem strained in so far as any
situation then requiring the landing of troops might exact.

The request was made, too, by men avowedly intending to overthrow the
existing government and substitute a provisional government therefor, and who,
with such purpose in progress of being effected, could not proceed therewith,
but fearing arrest and imprisonment and without any thought of abandoning
that purpose, sought the aid of the American troops in this situation to
prevent any harm to their persons and property. To consent to an application
for such a purpose without any suggestion dissuading the applicants from it on
the part of the American minister, with naval forces under his command, could
not otherwise be construed than as complicity with their plans.

The committee, to use their own language, say: “We are unable to
protect ourselves without aid, and, therefore, pray for the protection of the
United States forces.”

In less than thirty hours the petitioners have overturned the throne,
established a new government, and obtained the recognition of foreign powers.

Let us see whether any of these petitioners are American citizens, and if
so whether they were entitled to protection, and if entitled to protection at
this point whether or not subsequently thereto their conduct was such as could
be sanctioned as proper on the part of American citizens in a foreign country.

Mr. Henry E. Cooper is an American citizen; was a member of the committee
of safety; was a participant from the beginning in their schemes to overthrow
the Queen, establish a Provisional Government, and visited Capt.
Wiltse’s vessel, with a view of securing the aid of American troops, and
made an encouraging report thereon. He, an American citizen, read the
proclamation dethroning the Queen and establishing the Provisional Government.

Mr. F. W. McChesney is an American citizen; was cooperating in the
revolutionary movement, and had been a member of the advisory council from its
inception.

Mr. W. C. Wilder is a naturalized citizen of the Hawaiian Islands, owing
no allegiance to any other country. He was one of the original members of the
advisory council, and one of the orators in the mass meeting on the morning of
January 16.

Mr. C. Bolte is of German origin, but a regularly naturalized citizen of
the Hawaiian Islands.

Mr. A. Brown is a Scotchman and has never been naturalized.

Mr. W. O. Smith is a native of foreign origin and a subject of the
Islands.

Mr. Henry Waterhouse, originally from Tasmania, is a naturalized citizen
of the islands.

Mr. Theo. F. Lansing is a citizen of the United States, owing and
claiming allegiance thereto. He has never been naturalized in this country.

Mr. Ed. Suhr is a German subject.

Mr. L. A. Thurston is a native-born subject of the Hawaiian Islands, of
foreign origin.

Mr. John Emmeluth is an American citizen.

Mr. W. it Castle is a Hawaiian of foreign parentage.

Mr. J. A. McCandless is a citizen of the United States—never having
been naturalized here.

Six are Hawaiians subjects; five are American citizens; one English,
and one German. A majority are foreign subjects.

It will be observed that they sign as “Citizens’ committee of
safety.”

This is the first time American troops were ever landed on these islands
at the instance of a committee of safety without notice to the existing
government.

It is to be observed that they claim to be a citizens’ committee of
safety and that they are not simply applicants for the protection of the
property and lives of American citizens.

The chief actors in this movement were Messrs. L. A. Thurston and W.O.
Smith.

Alluding to the meeting of the committee of safety held at Mr. W. R.
Castle’s on Sunday afternoon, January 15, Mr. W.O. Smith says:

After we adjourned Mr. Thurston and I
called upon the American minister again and informed him of what was being
done. Among other things we talked over with him what had better be done in
case of our being arrested, or extreme or violent measures being taken by
the monarchy in regard to us. We did not know what steps would be taken, and
there was a feeling of great unrest and sense of danger in the community. Mr.
Stevens gave assurance of his earnest purpose to afford all the protection that
was in his power to protect life and property. He emphasized the fact that
while he would call for the United States troops to protect life and property,
he could not recognize any government until actually established.

Mr. Damon,
the vice-president of the Provisional Government, returning from the
country on the evening of the 16th, and seeing the troops in the streets
inquired of Mr. Henry Waterhouse, “Henry, what does all this mean?”
To which he says, if he “remembers rightly,” Mr. Waterhouse
replied, “It is all up!” On being questioned by me as to his
understanding of the expression, “It is all up,” he said he
understood from it that the American troops had taken possession of the island.

Mr. C. L. Carter, at the government house, assured Mr. Damon that the
United States troops would protect them. Mr. Damon was astonished when
they were not immediately marched over from Arion Hall to the government
building and became uneasy. He only saw protection in the bodily presence
of the American troops in this building. The committee of safety, with its
frequent interviews with Mr. Stevens, saw it in the significance of the
position occupied by the United States troops and in the assurance of Mr.
Stevens that he would interfere for the purpose of protecting life and
property, and that when they should have occupied the government building and
read their proclamation dethroning the Queen and establishing the Provisional
Government he would recognize it.

The committee of safety, recognizing the fact that the landing of the
troops under existing circumstances could, according to all law and precedent,
be done only on the request of the existing Government, having failed in
utilizing the Queen’s cabinet, resorted to the new device of a committee
of safety, made up of Germans, British, Americans, and natives of foreign
origin, led and directed by two native subjects of the Hawaiian Islands.

With these leaders, subjects of the Hawaiian Islands, the American
minister consulted freely as to the revolutionary movement and gave them
assurance of protection from danger at the hands of the royal Government and
forces.

On January 17 the following communication, prepared at the station house,
which is one-third of a mile from the Government building and two-thirds of a
mile from the residence of the American minister, was sent to him:

Department of Foreign Affairs,

Honolulu,
January 17, 1893.

His Excellency JOHN L. STEVENS,

Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary, etc.:

Sir: Her Hawaiian Majesty’s Government, having been
informed that certain persons to them unknown, have issued proclamation
declaring a Provisional Government to exist in opposition to Her
Majesty’s Government and having pretended to depose the Queen, her
cabinet and marshal, and that certain treasonable persons at present occupy the
Government building in Honolulu with an armed force, and pretending that your
excellency, on behalf of the United States of America, has recognized such
Provisional Government Her Majesty’s cabinet asks respectfully, has your
excellency recognized said Provisional Government, and, if not, Her
Majesty’s Government under the above existing circumstances respectfully
requests the assistance of your Government in preserving the peace of the
country.

We have the honor to be
your excellency s obedient servants,

Samuel Parker,

Minister
Foreign Affairs.Wm. H. Cornwell,

Minister
of Finance.John F. Colburn,

Minister
of the Interior.A.P. Peterson,

Attorney-General.

In it will be observed the declaration that the Provisional Government
is claiming to have had his recognition. The reply of Mr. Stevens is not to be
found in the records or files of the legation, but on those records appears the
following entry:

United States Legation,

Honolulu,
January 17, 1893.

About 4 to 5 p. m. of this date—am
not certain of the precise time—the note on file from the four ministers
of the deposed Queen, inquiring if I had recognized the Provisional Government,
came to my hands while I was lying sick on the couch. Not far from 5 p.
m.—I did not think to look at my watch—I addressed a short note to Hon.
Samuel Parker; Hon. Wm. H. Cornwell, Hon. John F. Colburn, and Hon. A. P.
Peterson, no longer regarding them as ministers, informing them that I had recognized
the Provisional Government.

John L. Stevens,

United
States Minister.

This
communication was received at the station house and read by all of the
ministers and by a number of other persons.

After this Mr. Samuel M. Damon, the vice-president of the Provisional
Government, and Mr. Bolte, a member of the advisory council, came to the
station house and gave information of the proclamation and asked for the
delivery up of the station house, the former urging that the government had
been recognized by the American minister, and that any struggle would cause
useless bloodshed.

The marshal declared that he was able to cope with the forces of the
Provisional Government and those of the United States successfully, if the
latter interfered, and that he would not surrender except by the written order
of the Queen.

After considerable conference, the cabinet went with Messrs. Damon and
Bolte to the Government building and met the Provisional Government, and there
indicated a disposition to yield, but said that they must first consult with
the Queen.

The members of the Queen’s cabinet, accompanied by Mr. Damon,
preceded by the police, and met the Queen. There were also present Messrs. H.A.
Widemann Paul Neumann, E.C. Macfarlane, J.O. Carter and others.

As to what occurred there I invite your attention to the following
statement, made by the vice-president of the Provisional Government, and
certified by him to be correct:

Q. In that conversation you asked for a
surrender of the forces and the ministers advised it?

A. The different ones spoke and they all
recommended it. Each one spoke. At first Judge Widemann was opposed to it, but
he finally changed his mind on the advice of Mr. Neumann. Mr. Neumann advised
yielding. Each one advised it.

Q. Was the advice of Neumann and the
cabinet based on the idea that the Queen would have to contend with the United
States forces as well as the forces of the Provisional Government?

A. It was the Queen’s idea that she
could surrender pending a settlement at Washington, and it was on that
condition that she gave up. If I remember right I spoke to her also. I said she
could surrender or abdicate under protest.

Q. And that the protest would be
considered at a later period at Washington?

A. At a later
period.

I knew it was the Queen’s idea that
Mr. Stevens was in sympathy with this movement.

Q. But I am asking now as to what reasons
the ministers gave for her acquiescence?

A. It was their idea that it was useless to carry on; that it would be
provocative of bloodshed and trouble if she persisted in the matter longer;
that it was wiser for her to abdicate under protest and have a hearing at a
later time; that the forces against her were too strong.

Q. Did they
indicate the United States forces in any way?

A. I do not
remember- their doing so.

Q. Do you know whether or not at that time
they were under the impression that the United States forces were in sympathy
with the revolution?

A. Beyond an impression I know nothing
definite.

Q. What was
the result of this conference with the Queen? What was agreed on?

A. She
signed a document surrendering her rights to the Provisional Government under
protest.

She was reluctant to agree to this, but
was advised that the whole subject would come up for final consideration at
Washington.

I did tell her that she would have a
perfect right to be heard at a later period.

Q. By the United States
Government?

A. Yes.

All the persons present except Mr. Damon formally state and certify that
in this discussion it was conceded by all that Mr. Stevens had recognized the
Provisional Government. This Mr. Damon says he does not clearly recollect, but
that he is under the impression that at that time the Provisional Government
had been recognized. Save Mr. Damon, these witnesses testify to the impression
made on their minds and on that of the Queen that the American minister and the
American naval commander were cooperating in the insurrectionary movement.

As a result of the conference, there was then and there prepared the
protest which has been cited.

The time occupied in this conference is indicated in the following
language by Mr. Damon:

We went over (to the
Palace) between 4 and 5 and remained until 6 discussing the situation.

Mr. Damon and the cabinet returned to the Provisional Government,
presented the protest, and President Dole indorsed on the same:

Received by the
hands of the late cabinet this 17th day of January, A. D. 1893.

Sanford
B. Dole,

Chairman of the
Executive Council of Provisional Government.

After this protest the Queen ordered the delivery up of the station
house, where was an important portion of the military forces, and the barracks,
where was another force.

The
statements of many witnesses at the station house and at the conference with
the Queen, that the reply of Mr. Stevens to the cabinet on the subject of
recognition had been received when Mr. Damon and Mr. Bolte called there, and
also the statements at the conference with the Queen that the recognition had
taken place, are not contradicted by Mr. Damon; but when inquired of touching
these matters, he uses such expressions as “1 can not remember. It might
have been so.”

Mr. Damon says that he is under the impression that he knew when he went
to this conference with the Queen that the recognition had taken place.

Mr. Bolte, another member of the Provisional Government, in a formal
statement made and certified to by him, shows very much confusion of memory,
but says: “I can not say what time in the day Mr. Stevens sent his
recognition.” He thinks it was after sunset.

Mr. Henry
Waterhouse, another member of the Provisional Government, says: “We had
taken possession of the barracks and station house before the recognition took
place.”

It will be
observed that I have taken the communication of the Queen’s ministers and
the memorandum of Mr. Stevens as to his reply and the time thereof, to wit:
“Not far from 5 p. m. I did not think to look at my watch.”

This
information was then transmitted to the station house, a distance of
two-thirds of a mile, and before the arrival of Messrs. Damon and Bolte. This
fact is supported by nine persons present at the interview with Mr. Damon
and Mr. Bolte. Then another period of time intervenes between the departure of
Mr. Damon and the cabinet, passing over a distance of one-third of a mile
to the Government building. Then some further time is consumed in a conference
with the Provisional Government before the departure of Mr. Damon and the
cabinet to the palace, where was the Queen. The testimony of all persons
present proves that the recognition by Mr. Stevens had then taken place.
Subsequent to the signing of the protest occurred the turning over of the
military to the Provisional Government.

Inquiry as to
the credibility of all these witnesses satisfies me as to their character for
veracity, save one person, Mr. Colburn. He is a merchant, and it is said he
makes misstatements in business transactions. No man can reasonably doubt
the truth of the statements of the witnesses that Mr. Stevens had recognized
the Provisional Government before Messrs. Damon and Bolte went to the station
house.

Recurring to Mr. Stevens’s statement as to the time of his reply to
the letter of the cabinet, it does not appear how long before this reply he had
recognized the Provisional Government. Some witnesses fix it at three and some
at half-past three. According to Mr. Damon he went over with the cabinet to meet
the Queen between four and five, and, taking into account the periods of time
as indicated by the several events antecedent to this visit to the palace, it
is quite probable that the recognition took place in the neighborhood of 3
o’clock. This would be within one-half hour from the time that Mr. Cooper
commenced to read the proclamation establishing that Government, and,
allowing twenty minutes for its reading, in ten minutes thereafter the
recognition must have taken place.

Assuming that the recognition took place at half-past 3, there was not at
the Government building with the Provisional Government exceeding 60 raw
soldiers.

In conversation with me Mr. Stevens said that he knew the barracks and
station-house had not been delivered up when he recognized the Provisional
Government; that he did not care anything about that, for 25 men, well armed,
could have run the whole crowd.

There appears on the files of the legation this communication:

Government Building,

Honolulu, January 17, 1893

His Excellency John
L. Stevens,

United States Minister
Resident:

Sir: I acknowledge receipt of your valued communication
of this day, recognizing the Hawaiian Provisional Government and express deep
appreciation of the same.

We have conferred with the ministers of
the late government, and have made demand upon the marshal to surrender the
station-house. We are not actually yet in possession of the station-house; but
as night is approaching and our forces may be insufficient to maintain order,
we request the immediate support of the United States forces, and would request
that the commander of the U.S. forces take command of our military forces;
so that they may act together for the protection of the city.

Respectfully yours,

Sanford
B. Dole,

Chairman
Executive Council.

After the recognition by Mr.
Stevens, Mr. Dole thus informs him of his having seen the Queen’s Cabinet
and demanded the surrender of the forces at the station-house. This paper
contains the evidence that before Mr. Dole had ever had any conference with the
Queen’s ministers, or made any demand for the surrender of her
military forces, the Provisional Government had been recognized by Mr. Stevens.

On this paper
is written the following:

The above request
not complied with.—Stevens.

This is the only reference to it
to be found on the records or among the files of the legation.

This memorandum is not dated.

With the Provisional Government and its forces in a two-acre lot, and the
Queen’s forces undisturbed by their presence, this formal, dignified
declaration on the part of the President of the Provisional Government to
the American minister, after first thanking him for his recognition,
informing him of his meeting with the Queen’s cabinet and admitting that
the station-house had not been surrendered, and stating that his forces
may not be sufficient to maintain order, and asking that the American commander
unite the forces of the United States with those of the Provisional Government
to protect the city, is in ludicrous contrast with the declaration of the
American minister in his previous letter of recognition that the Provisional
Government was in full possession of the Government buildings, the archives,
the treasury, and in control of the Hawaiian capital.

In Mr. Stevens’s dispatch to Mr. Foster, No. 79, January 18, 1893,
is this paragraph:

As soon as practicable a Provisional
Government was constituted, composed of four highly respectable men, with Judge
Dole at the head, he having resigned his place on the supreme bench to assume
this responsibility. He was born in Honolulu, of American parentage, educated
here and in the United States, and is of the highest reputation among all
citizens, both natives and whites. P. C. Jones is a native of Boston, Mass.,
wealthy, possessing property interests in the island, and a resident here for
many years. The other two members are of the highest respectability. The
committee of public safety forthwith took possession of the Government
buildings, archives and treasury, and installed the Provisional Government at
the heads of the respective departments. This being an accomplished fact, I
promptly recognized the Provisional Government as the De Factogovernment of the Hawaiian Islands. The English minister, the Portuguese chargé
d’affaires, the French and the Japanese commissioners promptly did the
same; these, with myself, being the only members of the diplomatic corps
residing here.

Read in the
light of what has immediately preceded, it is clear that he recognized the
Provisional Government very soon after the proclamation of it was made. This
proclamation announced the organization of the Government, its form and
officials. The quick recognition was the performance of his pledge to the
committee of safety. The recognition by foreign powers, as herein stated,
is incorrect. They are dated on the 18th, the day following that of Mr.
Stevens.

On the day of
the revolution neither the Portuguese charge d’affaires nor the
French commissioner had any communication, written or oral, with the
Provisional Government until after dark, when they went to the Government
building to understand the situation, of affairs. They did not then announce
their recognition.

The British
minister, several hours after Mr. Stevens’s recognition, believing that
the Provisional Government was sustained by the American minister and
naval forces, and that the Queen’s troops could not and ought not to
enter into a struggle with the United States forces, and having so previously
informed the Queen’s cabinet, did go to the Provisional Government and
indicate his purpose to recognize it.

I can not
assure myself about the action of the Japanese commissioner. Mr. Stevens
was at his home sick, and some one evidently misinformed him as to the three
first.

In a letter
of the Hawaiian commissioners to Mr. Foster, dated February 11, is this
paragraph:

Sixth. At the time the Provisional
Government took possession of the Government buildings no American troops or
officers were present or took part in such proceedings in any manner
whatever. No public recognition was accorded the Provisional Government by the
American minister until they were in possession of the Government
buildings, the archives, and the treasury, supported by several hundred
aimed men and after the abdication by the Queen and the surrender to the
Provisional Government of her forces.

Mark the words, “and after the abdication by the Queen and the
surrender to the Provisional Government of her forces.” It is signed L.
A. Thurston, W. C. Wilder, William R. Castle, J. Marsden, and Charles L.
Carter.

Did the spirit of annexation mislead these gentlemen. If not, what malign
influence tempted President Dole to a contrary statement in his cited letter to
the American minister?

The Government building is a tasteful structure, with ample space for the
wants of a city government of 20,000 people. It is near the center of a 2-acre
lot. In it the legislature and supreme court hold their sessions and the
cabinet ministers have their offices.

In one corner of this lot in the rear is an ordinary two-story structure
containing eight rooms. This building was used by the tax assessor, the
superintendent of waterworks, and the Government survey office. ln another
corner is a small wooden structure containing two rooms used by the board of health.

These constitute what is termed in the correspondence between the
Provisional Government and the American minister and the Government of the
United States “government departmental buildings.”

Whatever lack of harmony of statement as to time may appear in the
evidence, the statements in documents and the consecutive order of events in
which the witnesses agree, all do force us to but one conclusion—that
the American minister recognized the Provisional Government on the simple
fact that it had entered a house designated sometimes as the Government
building and sometimes as Aliiolani Hale (sic), which had never been regarded as tenable in military operations
and was not so regarded by the Queen’s officers in the disposition
of their military forces, these being at the station house, at the palace, and
at the barracks.

Mr. Stevens consulted freely with the leaders of the revolutionary
movement from the evening of the 14th. These disclosed to him all their plans.
They feared arrest and punishment. He promised them protection. They needed the
troops on shore to overawe the Queen’s supporters and Government. This he
agreed to and did furnish. They had few arms and no trained soldiers. They did
not mean to fight. It was arranged between them and the American minister that
the proclamation dethroning the Queen and organizing a provisional government
should be read from the Government building and he would follow it with a
speedy recognition. All this was to be done with American troops provided with
small-arms and artillery across a narrow street within a stone’s
throw. This was done.

Then commenced arguments and importunities to the military commander
and the Queen that the United States had recognized the Provisional Government
and would support it; that for them to persist involved useless bloodshed.

No soldier of the Provisional Government ever left the 2-acre lot.

The Queen finally surrendered, not to these soldiers and their leaders
but to the Provisional Government on the conviction that the American
minister and the American troops were promoters and supporters of the
revolution, and that she could only appeal to the Government of the United
States to render justice to her.

The leaders of the revolutionary movement would not have undertaken it
but for Mr. Stevens’s promise to protect them against any danger from the
Government. But for this their mass meeting would not have been held. But for
this no request to land the troops would have been made. Had the troops not
been landed no measures for the organization of a new Government would
have been taken.

The American minister and the revolutionary leaders had determined on
annexation to the United States, and had agreed on the part each was to act to
the very end.

Prior to 1887 two-thirds of the foreigners did not become naturalized.
The Americans, British, and Germans especially would not give up the protection
of those strong governments and rely upon that of the Hawaiian Islands. To such
persons the constitution of 1887 declared: “We need your vote to overcome
that of our own native subjects. Take the oath to support the Hawaiian
Government, with a distinct reservation of allegiance to your own.”
Two-thirds of the Europeans and Americans now voting were thus induced to vote
in a strange country with the pledge that such act did not affect their citizenship
to their native country. The purport and form of this affidavit appear in
the citations from the constitution of 1887 and the form of oath of a foreign
voter. See page 12.

The list of registered voters of American and European origin, including
Portuguese, discloses 3,715; 2,091 of this number are Portuguese. Only
eight of these imported Portuguese have ever been naturalized in these
islands. To this should be added 106 persons, mostly negroes, from the Cape
Verde Islands, who came here voluntarily several years prior to the period
of state importation of laborers.

The commander of the military forces of the Provisional Government on the
day of the dethroning of the Queen and up to this hour has never given up his
American citizenship, but expressly reserved the same in the form of oath
already disclosed and by a continuous assertion of the same.

The advisory council of the Provisional Government, as established by the
proclamation, consisted of John Emmeluth, an American, not naturalized; Andrew
Brown, a Scotchman, not naturalized; C. Bolte, naturalized; James F. Morgan,
naturalized; Henry Waterhouse, naturalized; S. M. Damon, native; W. G.
Ashley, an American, not naturalized; E. D. Tenney, an American, not
naturalized; F. W. McChesney, an American, not naturalized; W. C. Wilder,
naturalized; J. A. McCandless, an American, not naturalized; W. R. Castle, a
native; Lorrina A. Thurston, a native; F. J. Wilhelm, an American, not naturalized,

One-half of this body, then, was made up of persons owing allegiance to
the United States and Great Britain.

The annexation mass meeting of the 16th of January was made up in this
same manner.

On the 25th of February, 1843, under pressure of British naval forces,
the King ceded the country to Lord George Paulet, “subject to the
decision of the British Government after full information.” That Government restored their independence. It made
a deep impression on the native mind.

This national experience was recalled by Judge Widemann, a German of
character and wealth, to the Queen to satisfy her that the establishment
of the Provisional Government, through the action of Capt. Wiltse and Mr.
Stevens, would be repudiated by the United States Government, and that she
could appeal to it. Mr. Damon urged upon her that she would be entitled to such
a hearing. He was the representative of the Provisional Government, and
accepted her protest and turned it over to President Dole. This was followed by
large expenditures from her private purse to present her cause and to invoke
her restoration.

That a deep wrong has been done the Queen and the native race by American
officials pervades the native mind and that of the Queen, as well as a hope for
redress from the United States, there can be no doubt.

In this connection it is important to note the inability of the Hawaiian
people to cope with any great powers, and their recognition of it by never
offering resistance to their encroachments.

The suddenness of the landing of the United States troops, the reading
of the proclamation of the Provisional Government almost in their presence, and
the quick recognition by Mr. Stevens, easily prepared her for the suggestion
that the President of the United States had no knowledge of these occurrences
and must know of and approve or disapprove of what had occurred at a
future time. This, too, must have contributed to her disposition to accept the
suggestions of Judge Widemann and Mr. Damon. Indeed, who could have supposed
that the circumstances surrounding her could have been foreseen and sanctioned
deliberately by the President of the United States.

Her uniform conduct and the prevailing sentiment amongst the natives
point to her belief as well as theirs that the spirit of justice on the part of
the President would restore her crown.

Attention is now invited to the following table, showing the census of
the Hawaiian Islands by districts and islands in 1890:

Latest official census
of the Hawaiian Islands, taken December 28, 1890, by districts and

Total
Population, 1890, 89,990. Total population, 1884, 80,578. The island of Oahu,
on which Honolulu is situated, appears, then, to have had a population of
31,194. The total population was 89,970. This total has been increased since by
adding several thousandJapanese contract laborers. Fifty-eight
thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, a majority of the people, lived on the
other islands.

Nothing was
known of the revolutionary movement at Honolulu in the other islands until
several days after its accomplishment, amid no opportunity to consider and
approve or reject it has been permitted.

Lieut. Fox,
of Admiral Skerrett’s stall; furnishes me the following information, in
the shape of a memorandum, showing the movements of American troops to and from
American vessels in Honolulu:

Account of the forces
landed from the U. S.S. Boston at
Honolulu, January 16, 1893, together with those landed from and returned to the
ship at different times:

Landed at 4:30 or 5p.m..,
January 16—

Three companies of blue
jackets, 36
each…………………………………..108
One company marines and two
musicians…………………………………..32
Musicians for
battalion………………………………………………………12
Officers—9 naval, 1
marine…………………………………………………10

162

Extra men landed—

January 24 for Camp
Boston…………………………………………..2

February 16
for Camp
Boston…………………………………………1

March 15 for marine
guard…………………………………………….1

March 17 for Camp
Boston……………………………………………14 18

Total number of men and
officers landed for
service……………………180

Returned on board:

January 27,
men…………………………………………………………….…2
January 30,
men……………………………………………………………….1
February 3, Lieut. Young’s
company………………………………………..35
February 3,
officers……………………………………………………………2
February 23,
men………………………………………………………………2
February 27, men………………………………………………………………2
February 28, one marine and one blue
jacket…………………………………2
March 1,
men…………………………………………………………………..1
March 13,
men…………………………………………………………………1
March 15,
men…………………………………………………………………2
March 18,
men…………………………………………………………………1
March 20, Lieut. Cofman’s
company…………………………………………36
March 20,
officers………………………………………………………………1
March 22,
men………………………………………………………………….1__

89__

Total number of men and officers returned before April
1………………………..89

Total number of men and officers landed before April
1…………………………180

Total
number left on shore March 20,
1893…………………………………91

On February 15 Lieut. Young’s company landed for
the admiral’s review and returned after the review the same day. There
were 36 men in the company and 2 officers.

The total number of men at Camp Boston—

April 1,
Men…………………………………………………………………….52
April 1,
officers…………………………………………………………………6
April 1, marines at Government
building………………………………………33
April 1,
officers…………………………………………………………………1__

Total force withdrawn from
shore April 1,
1893…………………………….92

The United States troops, it thus appears, were doing military duty for
the Provisional Government before the protectorate was assumed, just as
afterwards. The condition of the community at the time of the assumption of the
protectorate was one of quiet and acquiescence, pending negotiations with the
United States, so far as I have been able to learn.

A few days before my arrival here news of the withdrawal by the President
from the Senate of the treaty of annexation and his purpose to send a
commissioner to inquire into the revolution was received.

An organization known as the Annexation Club commenced to obtain
signatures to a petition in favor of annexation. This work has been continued
ever since.

The result is reported on July 9, 1893, thus:

Headquarters Annexation Club,

Honolulu,
H. I., July 9, 1898.

Hon. J. H. Blount,

U.S. E. E. &
M. P.

In answer to your communication of May I
would say that the names on our great register to date are 5,500 and that we
are advised of 190 odd on rolls not yet entered on the ether islands.

Of those which are entered I would
estimate that 1,218 are Americans, being 90 odd per cent of the total number of
Americans on the islands and 20 odd per cent of those on the club rolls.

English 251, being 26 per cent of those on
the islands and 4 per cent of climb rolls. One thousand and twenty-two
Hawaiians, being 11 per cent of those on islands and 18 per cent of club rolls.

Two thousand two hundred and sixty-one
Portuguese, being 73 per cent of Portuguese on islands and 41 per cent of
club rolls.

Sixty-nine Norwegians, being 50 per cent
of those on islands and 1 per cent of club rolls.

Three hundred and fifty-one Germans, being
53 per cent of those on islands and 6 per cent on club rolls.

Others, 328, unclassified.

I have the honor to be your obedient
servant

J.W. Jones,

Secretary
Annexation Club.

Compare this with the exhibit in the following
table:

The census of 1890, by age and nationality, showing number of registered
voters

Denominations, as shown by
the census of 1884, were: Protestants, 29,685; Roman Catholics, 20,072; and
unreported, 30,821. Of this latter 17,639 were Chinese and 116 were Japanese.
At the recent census this feature of the work was omitted.

This shows the
number of registered voters and the looseness of the method of the Annexation
Club.

After my arrival the adherents of the Queen commenced to obtain
signatures amongst the natives against annexation, under attacks from the press
and annexationists of treasonable purposes. They report 7,000 signatures. In
addition to this, petition against annexation by whites, little circulated,
contains 249 signatures.

The Portuguese have generally signed the annexation rolls. These, as I
have already stated, are nearly all Portuguese subjects. A majority of the
whites of American and European birth who have signed the same roll are not
Hawaiian subjects and are not entitled to vote under any laws of the Kingdom.

The testimony of leading annexationists is that if the question of
annexation was submitted to a popular vote, excluding all persons who could not
read and write except foreigners (under the Australian-ballot system,
which is the law of the land), that annexation would be defeated.

From a careful inquiry I am satisfied that it would be defeated by a vote
of at least two to one. If the votes of persons claiming allegiance to foreign
countries were excluded, it would be defeated by more than five to one.

The undoubted sentiment of the people is for the Queen, against the
Provisional Government and against annexation. A majority of the whites,
especially Americans, are for annexation.

The native registered vote in 1890 was 9,700; the foreign vote was 3,893.
This native vote is generally aligned against the annexation whites. No relief
is hoped for from admitting to the right of suffrage the overwhelming Asiatic
population. In this situation the annexation whites declare that good
government is unattainable.

The controlling element in the white population is connected with the
sugar industry. In its interests the Government here has negotiated treaties
from time to time for the purpose of securing contract laborers for terms of
years for the plantations, and paid out large sums for their transportation and
for building plantation wharves, etc.

These contracts provide for compelling the laborer to work faithfully by
fines and damage suits brought by the planters against them, with the right on
the part of the planters to deduct the damages and cost of suit out of the
laborer’s wages. They also provide for compelling the laborer to remain
with the planter during the contract term. They are sanctioned by law and
enforced by civil remedies and penal laws. The general belief amongst the planters
at the so-called revolution was that, notwithstanding the laws against
importing labor into the United States in the event of their annexation to that
Government, these laws would not be made operative in the Hawaiian Islands on
account of their peculiar conditions. Their faith in the building of a cable
between Honolulu and San Francisco, amid large expenditures at Pearl harbor in
the event of annexation have also as much to do with the desire for it.

In addition to these was the hope of escape from duties on rice and
fruits and receiving the sugar-bounty, either by general or special law.

The repeal of the duty on sugar in the McKinley act was regarded a severe
blow to their interests, and the great idea of statesmanship has been to
do something in the shape of treaties with the United States, reducing their
duties on agricultural products of the Hawaiian Islands, out of which profit
might be derived. Annexation has for its charm the complete abolition of all
duties on their exports to the United States.

The
annexationists expect the United States to govern the islands by so abridging
the right of suffrage as to place them in control of the whites.

The Americans,
of what is sometimes termed the better class, in point of intelligence,
refinement, and good morals, are fully up to the best standard in American
social life. Their homes are tasteful and distinguished for a generous
hospitality. Education and religion receive at their hands zealous support. The
remainder of them contain good people of the laboring class and the vicious
characters of a seaport city. These general observations can be applied to the
English and German population.

The native
population, numbering in 1890 40,622 persons, contained 27,901 able to read and
write. No country in Europe, except perhaps Germany and England, can make
such a showing. While the native generally reads and writes in native and
English, he usually speaks the Kanaka language. Foreigners generally acquire
it. The Chinese and Japanese learn to use it and know very little English.

Among the
natives there is not a superior class, indicated by great wealth, enterprise,
and culture, directing the race, as with the whites. This comes from several
causes.

In the
distribution of lands most of it was assigned to the King, chiefs, some whites,
and to the Government for its support. Of the masses 11,132 persons received
27,830 acres—about two and a half acres to an individual—called
Kuleanas. The majority received nothing. The foreigners soon traded the chiefs
out of a large portion of their shares, and later purchased from the Government
government lands and obtained long leases on the crown lands. Avoiding details
it must be said that the native never held much of the land. It is well known
that it has been about seventy years since he commenced to emerge from idolatry
and the simplicity of thought and habits and immoralities belonging to it.
National tradition has done little for him and before the whites led him to
education its influence was not operative. Until within the last twenty years
white leaders were generally accepted and preferred by the King in his
selections of cabinets, nobles, and judges, and native leadership was not
wanted.

Their religious
affiliations are with the Protestant and Catholic churches. They are
over-generous, hospitable, almost free from revenge, very
courteous—especially to females. Their talent for oratory and the higher
branches of mathematics is unusually marked. In person they have large
physique, good features, amid the complexion of the brown races. They have been
greatly advanced by civilization, but have done little towards its advancement.
The small amount of thieving and absence of beggary are more marked than
amongst the best races of the world. What they are capable of under fair
conditions is an unsolved problem.

Idols amid idol
worship have long since disappeared.

The following
observations in relation to population are presented, though some repetition
will be observed:

The population of the Hawaiian Islands can best be studied, by one
unfamiliar with the native tongue, from its several census reports. A census is
taken every six years. The last report is for the year 1890. From this it
appears that the whole population numbers 89,990. This number includes natives
or, to use another designation, Kanakas, half-estates (persons containing an
admixture of other than native blood in any proportion with it), Hawaiian-born
foreigners of all races or nationalities other than natives, Americans,
British, Germans, French, Portuguese, Norwegians, Chinese, Polynesians, amid
other nationalities.

(In all the official documents of the Hawaiian Islands, whether in
relation to population, ownership, of property, taxation, or any other
question, the designation “American,” “Briton,”
“German,” or other foreign nationality does not discriminate
between the naturalized citizens of the Hawaiian Islands and those owing
allegiance to foreign countries.)

It is well at this point to say that of the 7,495 Hawaiian-born foreigners
4,117 are Portuguese, 1,701 Chinese and Japanese, 1,617 other white foreigners,
and 60 of other nationalities.

There are 58,714 males. Of these 18,364 are pure natives and 3,085 are
half castes, making together 21,449. Fourteen thousand five hundred and
twenty-two (14,522) are Chinese. The Japanese number 10,079. The Portuguese
contribute 4,770. These four nationalities furnish 50,820 of the male
population.

Males.
The
Americans………………………………………….1,298

The
British………………………………………………982

The
Germans……………………………………………729

The
French………………………………………………46

The
Norwegians…………………………………………135

These five nationalities combined furnish 3,170 of the total male
population.

The first four
nationalities when compared with the last five in male population are nearly
sixteen fold the largest in number.

The Americans
are to those of the four aforementioned group of nationalities as 1 to
39—nearly as 1 to 40.

Portuguese
have been brought here from time to time from the Madeira and Azores islands by
the Hawaiian Government as laborers, on plantations, just as has been done in
relation to Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians, etc. They are the most ignorant of
all imported laborers, and reported to be very thievish. They are not pure
Europeans, but a commingling of many races, especially the negro. They
intermarry with the natives and belong to the laboring classes. Very few of
them can read and write. Their children are being taught in the public schools,
as all races are. It is wrong to class them as Europeans.

The character
of the people of these islands is and must be overwhelmingly Asiatic. Let
it not be imagined that the Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese disappear at the
end of their contract term. From the report of the inspector-in-chief of
Japanese immigrants on March 31, 1892, it appears that twenty
“lots” of Japanese immigrants have been brought here by the
Hawaiian Government, numbering 21,110. Of these, 2,517 have returned to Japan;
8,592, having worked out their contract term, remain, and 9,626 are still
working out their contract term. More than 75 per cent may be said to locate
here permanently.

There are
13,067 Chinamen engaged in various occupations, to wit: 8,763 laborers, 1,479
farmers, 133 fishermen, 74 drivers and teamsters, 564 mechanics, 42 planters
and ranchers, 776 merchants and traders, 164 clerks and salesmen, 12
professional men and teachers, and 1,056 in various other occupations.

The number of merchants and traders in the entire country is 1,238. Of
this number 776 are Chinamen and 81 are Americans.

The largest part of the retail trade seems to be conducted by Chinamen.

Of 20,536 laborers on sugar plantations only 2,617 are Chinese. Of this
latter number only 396 are contract laborers.

The Portuguese population in 1884 amounted to 9,377 and in 1890 to 8,602,
a loss of 775. These have been leaving in considerable numbers for time past
eighteen months, making their Way generally to the United States. In 1890 the
males were classified as to occupation thus: Laborers, 2,653; farmers,
136; fishermen, 3; mariners, 10; drivers and teamsters, 63; mechanics, 167;
planters and ranchers, 17; merchants and traders, 56; clerks and salesmen 13;
professional men and teachers, 11; other occupations, 123; total, 3,266. On
the cane plantations there are of male Portuguese 277 under contract and 1,651
day laborers.

Of the population in 1892, 20,536 were laborers on sugar-cane
plantations, 16,723 being Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese. Of the whole
number, 10,991 are contract laborers. The remainder are designated as day
laborers. The total number of laborers in the islands by the census of 1890 was
25,466.

In 1890 there were 23,863 male laborers. Of this number, 18,728 were
Chinese and Japanese. At this period there were 41,073 of all occupations. Of
this number, 24,432 were Chinese and Japanese.

Of the total number of persons of European and American origin in the
various avocations, it appears that 1,106 were Americans, 819 British, 518
Germans, 45 French, and 200 Norwegians, making a total of 2,688 persons.

The natives furnished 8,871 persons and the half-castes 884.

The Hawaiians, therefore, may be said to have furnished 9,755.

There are 196 persons designated as planters and ranchers. Of this
number, 18 are Americans, 30 are British, and 6 are Germans. The remainder are
principally Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and Hawaiians.

There are 5,181 persons designated as farmers. Of these 3,392 are natives
and half castes and 1,500 are Chinese. These two, furnish 4,779, leaving a
residue of 402 taken from all other nationalities. Of these, 26 are Americans.

It will be interesting if not pleasing to examine the number of the sexes
by nationalities.

The grand total of the population is 89,990. The male population is
56,714, the females are 31,276.

The natives and half-estates furnish 21,449 males and 19,174 females.

The Chinese furnish 14,522 males and 779 females.

The Japanese furnish 10 079 males and 2,281 females.

The Portuguese furnish 4,770 males and 3,832 females.

The American males are 1,298, females 630.

The British males are 982, females 362.

The German males are 729, females 305.

This disparity of the sexes applies to all nationalities save the native
race.

The most striking feature is that the Chinese men outnumber their women
by more than 18 to 1.

The Japanese men outnumber their women by nearly five to one.

In all foreign nationalities the males largely exceed the females in
numbers.

The natives and half-castes furnish nearly two-thirds of the women. For a
moment let us see how far this disparity of sexes in 1884 compares with
that of 1890:

In 1884, there were 51,539 males, 29,039 females, and a total population
of 80,578.

In 1890 the males numbered 58,714, the females 31,276, and the total
number was 89,990.

The males increased from 1884 to 1890, 7,175; the females increased from
1884 to 1890, 2,237.

During this period there appears to have been the following gains and
losses by nationalities:

The net gain is 9,412. Had it not been for the large importation of
Japanese for plantation laborers there would have been a net loss of 2,832.

There was a net loss of Europeans and Americans combined numbering
899.

While the population is increasing in numbers the per cent of females is
largely decreasing.

In 1866 the percentage of females was 45.25; in 1872 it was 44.37; in
1878, 41.19; in 1884, 36.04; in 1890, 34.75.

This condition has been reached by the importation of contract labor by
the Hawaiian Government for the sugar plantations.

In 1890 there was in the island of Oahu a population of 31,194. Of this
number 1,239 were Americans.

There was in the island of Hawaii a population of 26,754. Of this number
289 were Americans.

In the islands of Molokai and Lanai there was a population of 2,826. Of
this number 23 were Americans.

In the island of Maui there was a population of 17,357. Of this number
211 were Americans.

In the islands of Kauai and Niihau there was a population of 11,859. Of
this number 112 were Americans.

The total population was 89,990. Of this number 1,928 were Americans.

It appears that in 1890, the period of the last census, in a population
of 89,990 persons 51,610 were unable to read and write. The natives and
half-castes, numbering 40,622, had 27,901 able to read and write.

The Chinese, with a population of 15,301 persons, had 13,277 unable to
read and write.

The Japanese, with a population of 12,360, had 12,053 persons unable to
read and write.

The Portuguese, with a population of 8,602, had 6,276 unable to read and
write.

The minister of finance informs me that the taxes paid by Americans and
Europeans amount to $274,516.74; those by natives, $71,386.82; half castes,
$26,868.68; Chinese, $87,266.10; Japanese, $67,326.07; other nationalities,
$729.82.

He also informs me that the acreage on which taxes are paid by various
nationalities is:

The surveyor-general reports the Crown lands for 1893 as containing
915,288 acres. Of these he reports 94,116 acres available for lease. Of this
latter number only 47,000 acres are reported to be good arable land. He
likewise reports the Government land as containing 828,370 acres. He reports
these estimated in 1890 to be worth $2,128,850. The annual income from them is
$67,636. Of this income, $19,500 is from wharfage and $7,800 from rent of land
with buildings thereon.

The cane and arable land is estimated at 35,150 acres.

It is important here to recall his statement made to the legislature in
1891, in the following language:

Most Government lands at the present time
consist of mere remnants left here and there, and of the worthless and
unsalable portions remaining after the rest had been sold.

And in the same communication he declares that between the years 1850 and
1860 nearly all the desirable Government land was sold, generally to
natives.

In 1890 the census report discloses that only 4,695 persons owned real
estate in these islands. With a population estimated at this time at 95,000,
the vast number of landless people here is discouraging to the idea of
immigrants from the United States being able to find encouragement in the
matter of obtaining homes in these islands.

The landless condition of the native population grows out of the original
distribution and not from shiftlessness. To them homesteads should be offered
rather than to strangers.

The census
reports of the Hawaiian Islands pretend to give the native population from the
period when Capt. Cook was here until 1890. These show a rapid diminution in
numbers, which, it is claimed, indicate the final extinction of the race. Very
many of these reports are entirely conjectural and others are carelessly
prepared. That of 1884 is believed by many intelligent persons here to
overstate the native strength and, of course, to discredit any comparison with
that of 1890.

All
deductions from such comparisons are discredited by an omission to consider
loss from emigration. Jarvis, in his history of the Hawaiian Islands, published
in 1847, says:

Great
numbers of healthy Hawaiian youth have left in whale ships and other vessels
and never returned.

The number
annually afloat is computed at 3,000. At one time 400 were counted at Tahiti,
500 in Oregon, 50 at Paita, Peru, besides unknown numbers in Europe and the
United States.

In 1850 a law
was passed to prohibit natives from leaving the islands. The reason for it is
stated in the following preamble:

Whereas, by the census of the islands
taken in 1849, the population decreased at the rate of 8 per cent in 1848, and
by the census taken in 1850 the population decreased at the rate of 5
one-seventh per cent in 1849; whereas the want of labor is severely felt by
planters and other agriculturists, whereby the price of provisions and other
produce has been unprecedently enhanced, to the great prejudice of the islands;
whereas, many natives have emigrated to California and there died, in great
misery; and, whereas, it is desirable to prevent such loss to the nation and
such wretchedness to individuals, etc.

This act
remained in force until 1887. How effective it was when it existed there is no
means of ascertaining. How much emigration of the native race has taken place
since its repeal does not appear to have been inquired into by the Hawaiian
Government. Assuming that there has been none and that the census tables are
correct, except that of 1884, the best opinion is that the decrease in the
native population is slight now and constantly less. Its final extinction,
except by amalgamation with Americans, Europeans, and Asiatics, may be
dispensed with in all future calculations.

My opinion, derived from official data and the judgment of intelligent
persons, is that it is not decreasing now and will soon increase.

The
foregoing pages are respectfully submitted as the connected report indicated in
your instructions. It is based upon the statements of individuals and the
examination of public documents. Most of these are hereto annexed.

The
partisan feeling naturally attaching to witnesses made it necessary for
me to take time for forming a correct
judgment as to their character. All this had to be done without the counsel of
any other person.

Mindful
of my liability to error in some matters of detail, but believing in the
general correctness of the information reported and conclusions reached, I
can only await the judgment of others.